UFC Fight Pass Prelims
Women's Flyweights
Joanne Calderwood (11-3) vs. Kalindra Faria (18-7-1)
Odds: Calderwood (-175), Faria (+155)
It'll be interesting to see if finally fighting at her natural weight class brings some more success for Scotland's Joanne Calderwood. Calderwood's become a fan favorite during her time on the UFC roster, but after coming into the promotion with an undefeated record, her run has a been a bit disappointing in terms of results. Calderwood's a solid, fun kickboxer, but losses to Jessica Andrade and Cynthia Calvillo showed how Calderwood can struggle with both better athletes and better grapplers. After an injury layoff, Calderwood makes her debut as a full-time flyweight against Brazil's Kalindra Faria, who's had similar issues in her two UFC fights to date. A Muay Thai artist with some solid submission skills, Mara Romero Borella blew through Faria with her physicality, and Jessica Eye had a ton of success wrestling to earn a win over Faria this past January. This is basically a mirror match between two unathletic strikers, and could be a fun one; I'll take Calderwood simply off liking her game a bit better and having proven herself against better competition, but this is a pick 'em.
Lightweights
Drew Dober (19-8, 1 N/C) vs. Jon Tuck (10-4)
Odds: Dober (-220), Tuck (+180)
Given that he was born and raised in Omaha, I'm surprised Drew Dober is this low on the card, particularly since he's carved out a niche as a fun action kickboxer. At any rate, after an early run in the UFC where Dober didn't show off much of anything, his game finally clicked at a UFC level circa 2016, when Dober finally showed a solid volume striking game. He'll take on Guam's Jon Tuck, who's well-rounded but inconsistent and sometimes gets lured into a fight that he shouldn't. I favor Dober since he's the more consistent striker and the more physical fighter, but Tuck could easily take this, particularly if he can get his grappling game going; I'll take Dober via decision, but the main point of this one seems to be that it's a fun fight.
Bantamweights
Rani Yahya (25-9, 1 N/C) vs. Luke Sanders (12-2)
Odds: Yahya (-115), Sanders (-105)
Over a decade after making his stateside name in WEC, Brazil's Rani Yahya is still at it, and somehow just 33 years old. Yahya's not much of an athlete and fairly one-dimensional, but he's a relentless and skilled grappler, capable of dragging any opponent into quicksand, even if Yahya tends to tire himself out in the process. Sometimes he meets his match in terms of skill and will drop a fight like his bouts against Tom Niinimaki and Joe Soto, but Yahya has just as many long win streaks in his UFC career as losses and remains a tricky veteran opponent. He takes on Tennessee's Luke Sanders, who had an impressive 2016 debut over Maximo Blanco, but has struggled to capitalize on that momentum, first due to inactivity and then due to a tendency to give away fights that he was winning. After two come-from-behind losses, Sanders broke his losing streak with an April win over Patrick Williams and looks to finally get his UFC career going in earnest here. Sanders is skilled enough on the ground that he could hang with Yahya and win this, but I have to figure given his track record that he'll make a fatal error at some point; my pick is Yahya via second-round submission.