Preview: UFC Vegas 102 ‘Cannonier vs. Rodrigues’

Middleweights

Rodolfo Vieira (10-2, 5-2 UFC) vs. Andre Petroski (12-3, 7-2 UFC)

ODDS: Vieira (-245), Petroski (+200)

Vieira’s transition to mixed martial arts has wound up going quite well, so perhaps this is the start of “The Black Belt Hunter” becoming more active. Vieira came to the UFC in 2019 with a rightful amount of hype. A highly decorated grappler, the Brazilian had already shown the beginnings of a promising striking game to round things out. However, after two wins to kick off his UFC career, it looked like Anthony Hernandez might turn Vieira into one of the more prominent prospect busts in recent memory. Hernandez’s aggressive wrestling and ability to survive the Brazilian’s grappling caused Vieira to absolutely implode, resulting in a second-round submission that ranks among the all-time most surprising methods of victory. To his credit, Vieira got back on the horse and has kept putting on solid performances since. He has won three of his past four bouts, and the loss might be the most impressive of the bunch, as he put in three solid rounds against Chris Curtis while keeping his cool. If there are any negatives about Vieira’s post-Hernandez performances, is that he has only fought at a pace of about one fight a year. Now entering his late 30s, that makes it a worry that his athleticism will start to fade before Vieira can see his hard work start to truly pay off. After blowing through Armen Petrosyan a year ago, this matchup against Petroski feels like a bit of a step back, even if the Daniel Gracie disciple has been generally successful over the course of his UFC career.

Petroski also started off as a wrestler and grappler with a penchant for going off the rails when things went wrong, but he eventually racked up five straight wins and put together a credible striking game by the time of his 2023 win over Gerald Meerschaert. However, Petroski then suffered two knockout losses, and from there, he has been content to go back to embracing the grind with two fairly unspectacular victories. That pivot in particular makes it a bit hard to see Petroski’s exact path to victory, as taking this fight to the mat appears to be too risky; and while a striking match between the two might be a bit ugly, Vieira is also probably the more dynamic fighter there at this point. The pick is Vieira via second-round submission.

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Cannonier vs. Rodrigues
Zalal vs. Kattar
Shahbazyan vs. Budka
Bonfim vs. Sadykhov
Vieira vs. Petroski
Delgado vs. Matthews
The Prelims