Preview: UFC Fight Night 232 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s next-to-last 2023 date at the UFC Apex sees a decent undercard slate on Saturday in Las Vegas. The featured UFC Fight Night 232 prelim serves as the clear standout of the bunch, as Jonathan Pearce and Joanderson Brito match up for an interesting featherweight clash with some violence potential. Beyond that comes the usual mix of Dana White’s Contender Series alums and action fighters, even if they do not offer all that much in terms of immediate stakes.

Now to the preview for the UFC Fight Night “Allen vs. Craig” prelims:

Featherweights

Jonathan Pearce (14-4, 5-1 UFC) vs. Joanderson Brito (15-3-1, 3-1 UFC)

ODDS: Pearce (-130), Brito (+110)

His momentum has cooled after a nearly yearlong layoff, but Pearce is still an interesting concern at featherweight. Pearce’s UFC debut in 2019 was a bit disastrous—up at lightweight, “JSP” quickly got run over by Joe Lauzon—but since moving down to 145 pounds, he has found his niche as an overwhelming pressure fighter. His bouts are not always the prettiest, but Pearce leverages his size and durability to swamp his opponents with wrestling and grappling exchanges, successfully banking that he can find a breaking point to fully take over the fight. A December win over Darren Elkins showed that Pearce can manage to outpace even the grittiest of grinders, and he seemed set up for big things earlier this year with a matchup against Bryce Mitchell. It was a tough pairing with some upside for Pearce before things fell through due to injuries on both sides. Pearce now draws a difficult fight with much less profile against Brito. The 28-year-old Brito is slowly making his name as a must-watch fighter, and like Pearce, he has done well to bounce back from a disappointing UFC debut. Bill Algeo wore Brito out in a fight about two years ago, but “Tubarao” has shown his finishing bona fides since, racking up three straight wins that have all been done in less under three minutes. Brito is clearly at his best in the first round, but he does usually recover enough to get off to hot starts in subsequent rounds, so there could be some moments of danger for Pearce even if he survives the initial onslaught. This could wind up looking a lot like Brito’s loss to Algeo if it goes a considerable length of time, but there is some cause for worry on the Pearce side. He has beaten a solid level of competition since losing to Lauzon but nobody who looks to immediately press the type of potent offense that Brito brings to the proceedings. This could cut either way, but the pick is Brito via first-round knockout.

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