Preview: UFC Fight Night 190 Prelims

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Lightweights

NR | Damir Hadzovic (13-6, 3-4 UFC) vs. NR | Yancy Medeiros (15-7, 6-7 UFC)

ODDS: Hadzovic (-140), Medeiros (+120)

Medeiros was a headliner as recently as 2018, when he main evented a UFC Fight Night show opposite Donald Cerrone. That bout was the culmination of Medeiros’s quite successful move up to welterweight. After a fun but middling career at 155 pounds, Medeiros moved up and rattled off three straight wins, including a 2017 “Fight of the Year” contender against Alex Oliveira. Since suffering a knockout to Cerrone in that main event assignment, things have clearly gone south for Medeiros, who is now in danger of sliding out of the UFC with a loss. He did not get much done in a return to lightweight against Gregor Gillespie, but it was his subsequent bout against Lando Vannata where Medeiros seemed surprisingly flat and ineffective, putting him in need of a win here against Hadzovic. Bosnia’s Hadzovic was immediately thrown to the wolves against Mairbek Taisumov in his 2016 UFC debut, but he has been able to round out his game in the years since, even if it has come at the expense of his aggression and pace. That tradeoff has allowed Hadzovic to be more defensively mindful and pursue some takedowns as needed, but his wrestling defense in particular has led to some disheartening losses in recent years. Medeiros’ takedown defense is not all that great in its own right, and Hadzovic looks to be the one more likely to shoot if the situation starts to go south on the feet. This could be a bit of a mess, but the pick is for Hadzovic to do enough grinding to earn the decision win.