Preview: UFC 234 ‘Whittaker vs. Gastelum’

Women's Flyweights
Montana De La Rosa (9-4) vs. Nadia Kassem (5-0)

Odds: De La Rosa (-250), Kassem (+210)

Montana De La Rosa's an interesting young talent as the UFC's women's flyweight division attempts to sort itself out. She had a tough degree of difficulty early on in her career, facing Mackenzie Dern and Cynthia Calvillo in her pre-UFC bouts, but outside of that, she's been able to show off some strong grappling skills, earning two submission victories in her two UFC fights. The rest, however, is clearly a work in progress; De La Rosa got tagged a decent bit by Christina Marks in her UFC debut, and in general, De La Rosa just doesn't offer much effectiveness on the feet. But with a ton of experience for a 23-year old and a solid base to fall back on, De La Rosa has the time and the skills to get much better; that process continues here against Nadia Kassem.

Australia's Kassem is extremely raw, even by current UFC standards; she blew through overmatched and winless competition on her way to a contract, so her debut against Alex Chambers was effectively her pro debut. Kassem looked decent in that bout; Chambers' grappling and veteran savvy gave her some issues at first, but Kassem was able to overcome that early trouble thanks to her athleticism and ability to set a pace. That debut was over a year ago, so there's a decent chance that Kassem shows up in much better form, but given her lack of experience, Kassem's going to be a prospect that requires a ton of patience to develop, even if she has the talent to be worth it by the end.

This is a pretty terrible style matchup for Kassem; against Chambers, she was able to fall back on her athleticism and her grappling, but she's facing a physically larger opponent who has a stronger wrestling background. After blowing weight against Chambers at 115, this is Kassem's first fight up at 125, so maybe the Aussie has added productive muscle, but outside of that, her style figures to lead her into a fight where she'll be completely overmatched. If Kassem decides to come out blitzing and fights like a madwoman, De La Rosa's striking is still stiff enough that she could score a quick finish, but past that, this is De La Rosa's fight to lose; the pick is De La Rosa via first-round submission.

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