Preview: UFC Fight Night 234 ‘Ankalaev vs. Walker 2’

Bantamweights

#13 BW | Ricky Simon (20-4, 8-3 UFC) vs. Mario Bautista (13-2, 7-2 UFC)

ODDS: Simon (-175), Bautista (+145)

The bantamweight division is the gift that keeps on giving, as this might be the best fight on the card. While 2023 was a setback for Simon, the future still seems bright for the Pacific Northwest native, particularly if he retools as well as he did the last time he hit a plateau. Simon made his UFC debut in 2018 and was strictly an offensively focused wildman, though that still carried him fairly far. Wins over Merab Dvalishvili, Montel Jackson and Rani Yahya were all impressive in various respects and had Simon close to the rankings within a year of his debut. Then Simon charged directly into a knockout from Urijah Faber and followed that up with a frustrating loss to Rob Font, leaving him to try and adapt in an attempt to work his way further up the ranks. There were a few growing pains along the way as Simon worked behind a more calculated style—he had his wrestling and grappling to fall back on—but he kept winning and eventually hit a new gear with wins over Raphael Assuncao and Jack Shore, showing an ability to push the pace without constantly putting himself in danger. Then came a main event against Yadong Song during which Simon got little done. Song’s quick-twitch reflexes allowed him to pick apart the Oregon native’s blitzing style, leaving Simon to cycle through ineffective ideas until his Chinese counterpart ended the fight in the fifth round.

Bautista is not much of a step back for Simon as he tries to rebound, as he is one of the dark horses of a deep division and figures to shed that status and become known as a true contender if he wins here. Bautista has quietly gone along a similar path as Simon since making his UFC debut in 2019. He was in over his head for a short-notice debut against Cory Sandhagen but gained some notice as a blood-and-guts scrapper before suffering a stunning knockout against Trevin Jones in 2020. Much like Simon, Bautista took some time off to retool and came out of that layoff as a much more balanced fighter, though he does still tend to get things done through brute force at times. When all else fails, he is willing to push hard behind his wrestling and find success with an underrated grappling game. That led to some impressively quick wins during his current five-fight winning streak, but an August victory over Da'Mon Blackshear got a bit ugly at times, which is a point of warning as Bautista continues to face better wrestlers and grapplers. Bautista might still be able to win this if it turns into a battle of wills in an all-out war, but the bet is that Simon can stay ahead in wrestling and grappling exchanges, even if this figures to be a closer fight than some might expect. The pick is Simon via decision.

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Ankalaev vs. Walker
Kape vs. Nicolau
Miller vs. Benitez
Simon vs. Bautista
Ferreira vs. Hawes
The Prelims