Preview: UFC Fight Night 208 ‘Blaydes vs. Aspinall’

Middleweights

Jack Hermansson (22-7 | 9-5 UFC) vs. Chris Curtis (29-8 | 3-0 UFC)

Odds: Hermansson (-115), Curtis (-105)

Hermansson finds himself in an important spot here. It took Hermansson a bit to get his UFC career going, first as an awkward striker before suddenly pivoting to becoming a ground-and-pound specialist, but early 2019 seemed to be a bit of a breakout for "The Joker;" after submitting David Branch in under a minute, Hermansson turned around less than a month later and scored a main event win over Ronaldo Souza. That led to Hermansson, who represents both Sweden and Norway, becoming the centerpiece of a card in Copenhagen opposite Jared Cannonier, a fight that ended in disappointing fashion - Hermansson started well enough, but soon hit a physical wall and got blasted by Cannonier for a second-round finish. Hermansson's been in a frustrating spot since, close to the middleweight elite but clearly a level below the top contenders - he's been able to exploit the issues of Kelvin Gastelum and Edmen Shahbazyan for relevant wins, but consistent fighters like Marvin Vettori and Sean Strickland just haven't given the well-rounded Hermansson the opportunity to take over their fights. Initially slated to face Darren Till here, Hermansson now looks to hold serve against Curtis, who should be an interesting test.

Curtis deserved a contract after his 2018 win on the Contender Series, but went back to his journeyman ways after the clear snub, fighting often, winning most of the time and even retiring multiple times - including twice in the same night. Twelve years of work eventually culminated in Curtis finally getting the UFC call as an injury replacement late last year, and "The Action Man" has certainly made good on the chance, racking up wins over Phil Hawes, Brendan Allen and Rodolfo Vieira to announce himself as a going concern. Curtis has an approach obviously honed after years of hard fighting; everything makes sense, and Curtis is both defensively sound and does an excellent job of taking whatever his opponent presents as an opportunity, with some excellent body work standing out whenever Curtis gets the chance. But that can manifest itself in inactivity at points - it hasn't been much of a worry in Curtis's UFC fights to date, but he can either hand his opponent the initiative or simply get lulled into a low-output performance by an opponent also willing to stay cautious. The dynamic here is hard to parse; Hermansson tends to be at his best when there's one area his well-roundedness can exploit, but Curtis doesn't figure to offer much in the way of openings or mistakes - while also not having a ton to exploit on Hermansson's side either. So this should be a fun coin flip of a fight; it wouldn't be a shock if Curtis continued this amazing run and found himself as a top-ten middleweight next week, but the bet is that Hermansson can find a takedown or two and keep enough of a consistent pace to eke this out on the scorecards. The pick is Hermansson via decision.

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Blaydes vs. Aspinall
Hermansson vs. Curtis
Pimblett vs. Leavitt
Krylov vs. Gustafsson
McCann vs. Goldy
Craig vs. Oezdemir
The Prelims