Preview: UFC Vegas 109 Prelims

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Sometimes it is not aspiration, but desperation, that spurs us on to acts of greatness—or so we hope.

The last of a three-week home stand for the Ultimate Fighting Championship before really racking up the frequent flyer miles—the promotion will post up on four different continents in the next five weeks—UFC Vegas 109, like its two immediate predecessors, has a certain “clean out the fridge before vacation” vibe. Nowhere is that more evident than in the matchup between Cody Brundage and Eric McConico, two habitual middleweights who were added to the card on a week’s notice in a light heavyweight matchup.

It adds up to an undercard that is short on divisional stakes even by the usual standards of an Apex event, but there is a silver lining: While the six-bout lineup features just three fighters who are over .500 in the UFC, that means that all or most of the remaining nine understand that their roster spots may be on the line on Saturday. Perhaps that motivation will show as these competitors prepare to sweat and bleed for our entertainment.

Let us get on to the preview for the undercard for UFC Vegas 109, also known as UFC on ESPN 72:

Light Heavyweights

Julius Walker (6-1, 0-1 UFC) vs. Raffael Cerqueira (11-2, 0-2 UFC)

Odds: Walker (-600); Cerqueira (+450)

The bad news is that these are both deeply flawed—or at least glaringly incomplete—fighters who have gotten this far by doing one or two things well. The good news is that at light heavyweight, that and decent physical tools can carry a fighter all the way into the title picture.

Of the two, Walker has the much higher upside. Nearly a decade younger at 26 and with a naturally larger frame, even if not as heavily muscled, “Juice Box” is a talent in search of a game plan. On my preview, I made the half-serious charge that he resembles an American version of his Brazilian ersatz namesakes Johnny and Valter Walker.

That’s a decent comparison, but outside of the shared surname, Walker is closer to a latter-day Ovince St. Preux. He shows flashes of top-shelf athleticism, is downright frightening when he unloads with flurries of punches, displays powerful wrestling and offensive grappling when he remembers to use them, but can be lulled into inactivity. That may sound like a strange accusation to level at a man who, prior to joining the UFC, had only had one opponent make it out of the first round, but Walker so outmatched most of those foes that he was able to simply hang around until he saw an opening he liked, then overwhelm them.

Against Alonzo Menifield in his Octagon debut, Walker finally came up against a veteran fighter with the skill and durability to force a game plan on Walker, and it showed. Walker won a narrow first round, then proceeded to drop the next two, as Menifield shook off his takedown attempts, met his bursts of standup offense with clean counters, and generally took over the fight the longer it went. It left Walker with clear takeaways for his next fight, namely: mix takedowns with strikes more seamlessly, and set up his power shots with feints.

Cerqueira appears to be a more finished product than Walker, for better or worse. The burly 35-year-old made it to the UFC as an undefeated 11-0 prospect and in contrast to Walker, he did so by knowing exactly what he was good at, then going out and doing it. While he presents as a kickboxer, once the cage door closes he is more of an aggressive brawler, marching forward and looking to nail his foe with body kicks and two-fisted power combinations.

Thus far in his UFC run, that approach has not worked, to put it mildly. Ibo Aslan, who has yet to conclusively prove he is UFC material himself, caught Cerqueira’s chin hanging and put him away in under a minute. More concerningly, in his next fight, Modestas Bukauskas, a more technical striker who has been susceptible to being overwhelmed by less skilled but more physical and aggressive foes, shrugged off several clean shots from Cerqueira, then exposed his plodding footwork and poor defense by shelling him with a three-piece combination that precipitated the finish.

This fight has more upset potential than the massive betting line might imply—Walker is hittable and Cerqueira, if nothing else, is going to come forward and try to hit him—but the American already a more complete fighter, a much better athlete and as the far younger man, the one more likely to have improved since last we saw him. The pick is Walker by first-round knockout.



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Walker vs. Cerqueira
Smith vs. Kazama
Edwards vs. Cachoeira
Medic vs. Urbina
Fernandes vs. Stoliarenko
Brundage vs. McConico