Preview: UFC 254 ‘Nurmagomedov vs. Gaethje’

Woah! Controversial finish at #UFCNorfolk pic.twitter.com/5rDDr9lMVV

— UFC (@ufc) March 1, 2020

Light Heavyweights

Magomed Ankalaev (13-1) vs. Ion Cutelaba (15-5)

ODDS: Ankalaev (-290), Cutelaba (+245)

At some point everyone needs to move on from this pairing, but the UFC is willing to try once again. Russia’s Ankalaev may have had a disheartening UFC debut, as he dominated his fight against Paul Craig before getting tapped with one second to go, but he has lived up to his considerable hype since. Ankalaev has been able to pick apart and control his opponents without much issue in the fights since, often keeping things at a slow pace until he decides to close the show. That patient approach added some intrigue to his February fight against Cutelaba. If nothing else, Cutelaba’s constant aggression—which often spilled over to the pre-fight festivities—figured to force Ankalaev to fight at a faster pace. That is indeed what happened, but Ankalaev thrived rather than get thrown out of his comfort zone, matching Cutelaba strike for strike and seemingly staggering the Moldovan with each blow. As Cutelaba was wobbling, referee Kevin MacDonald understandably stepped in to stop the fight, at which point “The Hulk” suddenly recovered in a manner that made the stoppage look absolutely terrible. It was a strange ending that was then compounded by Cutelaba’s post-fight explanation: He claimed that his plan was to appear staggered in order to lure Ankalaev into a false sense of security. The fight was fun enough and the ending was controversial enough that the UFC sought to re-book these two as soon as possible, but the pandemic and repeated positive COVID-19 tests from the Cutelaba camp have made this the fourth attempt to stage this rematch. If this happens, it figures to be much the same fight as the first, with Cutelaba making this an enjoyable sprint while getting kicked repeatedly in the head in his attempts to do so. The pick is Ankalaev via first-round knockout.

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