Preview: UFC Fight Night 229 ‘Dawson vs. Green’

Light Heavyweights

Ion Cutelaba (17-9-1, 6-8-1 UFC) vs. Philipe Lins (17-5, 3-2 UFC)

ODDS: Cutelaba (-142), Lins (+120)

A cut down to light heavyweight has paid some surprising dividends for Lins. He had a relatively unremarkable career at 205 pounds before signing with the Professional Fighters League as a heavyweight in 2018. That wound up leading to a breakout year for the Brazilian, who ran through his competition and won the company’s million-dollar tournament. In turn, that led to some high expectations when Lins subsequently signed with the UFC, but things instead got off to a terrible start. Lins started his UFC career with a flat decision loss to Andrei Arlovski, then took a quick turnaround and got knocked out by Tanner Boser. After an injury layoff, Lins resurfaced about two years later as a light heavyweight in much better cosmetic shape, rattling off a three-fight winning streak. Wins over Marcin Prachnio and Maxim Grishin were fairly interminable affairs that saw Lins act as a slow-paced bully, but “Monstro” was at least able to show off some power in knocking out Ovince St. Preux in February. It will be interesting to see how Lins comports himself against Cutelaba, his first opponent in a while who looks to bring some aggression to his fights, for better or for worse.

Moldova’s Cutelaba came to the UFC in 2016 as a promising 22-year-old, showing some flashes of brilliance as a knockout artist and a powerful wrestler. However, Cutelaba has unfortunately lived up to his nickname in the last few years. “The Hulk” seems to be a victim of his own rage at times, pressing his aggression to the point of self-destruction during a three-fight losing streak that made up all of Cutelaba’s 2022 campaign. Cutelaba rebounded with an April win over Boser, but with that being a quick victory, there are still some questions as to how well he can hang on after some early success. Cutelaba should get off to another hot start, but Lins does seem to have the requisite skill and physicality to survive, after which this gets a bit interesting. The St. Preux knockout aside, a lot of Lins’ recent offerings have seen him lean on and outwrestle his opponents, which might be the type of low-damage offering that allows Cutelaba to stay in this fight. Still, with Cutelaba’s recent record being what it is and with Lins having at least one recent knockout on his record, it seems a safer bet that this is another fight where the Moldovan will find a way to implode. The pick is Lins via second-round knockout.

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Dawson vs. Green
Pyfer vs. Alhassan
Buckley vs. Morono
Dober vs. Glenn
Cutelaba vs. Lins
Algeo vs. Hernandez
The Prelims