Bantamweights
Brady Hiestand (5-2, 0-1 UFC) vs. Fernando Garcia (10-2, 0-1 UFC)It is a bit of a surprise to see Hiestand make a second trip to the Octagon after losing in the 2021 final of “The Ultimate Fighter.” He is certainly a talented prospect, but the UFC has made a habit of cutting other fighters in the same position. At any rate, while “Bam Bam” is someone to watch, the 23-year-old is certainly raw, as the entirety of his pre-reality show success came against a particularly low level of competition. Still, Hiestand performed well on “The Ultimate Fighter,” relying on his powerful and aggressive grappling game, and he put in a strong showing in losing the final to Ricky Turcios. Against the toughest test of his career, Hiestand kept fighting even as the savvier vet was able to outpace him down the stretch. It has been about 15 months since that fight, so it will be interesting to see how Hiestand has developed heading into this pairing with Garcia, who looks to rebound from a disappointing UFC debut in May. Garcia is a scrappy fighter who picked the right moment to discover his ability as a knockout threat, scoring the only such stoppage of his career to earn a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021. However, his debut against Journey Newson did not particularly impress. Garcia has never read as a standout athlete, but Newson made him look slow and one-dimensional over the course of three rounds. Hiestand is clearly the higher-upside fighter here, but he has yet to score a professional victory over anyone with a prior win of their own, so Garcia could take this just by being durable and reliable enough to take advantage of any holes in his counterpart’s game. The bet is that Hiestand, for all his flaws, can just turn this into a grind at any sign of trouble. The pick is Hiestand via decision.
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