Preview: UFC on ESPN 50 Prelims

Thanks to some odd choices for the main card, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena will come with a high-quality set of six prelims. The featured slot on the UFC on ESPN 50 undercard goes to Kyler Phillips in a banger of a bantamweight bout against Raoni Barcelos. While that would be by far the best prelim on most cards of this size, it may actually be overshadowed by an excellent featherweight scrap that pits Billy Quarantillo against Damon Jackson. Elsewhere, Jeremiah Wells and Carlston Harris face off in an entertainingly strange welterweight bout, and Cody Durden takes on Jake Hadley in a legitimately interesting flyweight affair. Add in the long-awaited debut of Dennis Buzukja against Sean Woodson, and there is a surprising amount for which to tune in.

Now to the preview for the UFC on ESPN 50 prelims:

Bantamweights

Kyler Phillips (10-2, 4-1 UFC) vs. Raoni Barcelos (17-4, 6-3 UFC)

ODDS: Phillips (-198), Barcelos (+164)

Phillips was signed by the company in 2019 and immediately got injured, then spent 2020 showing himself to be a worthy flier in the typical UFC mold—an athlete high in potential but low on experience. Nothing suggested Phillips would be ready for a step up to face uber-prospect Yadong Song in his first fight of 2021, which made it all the more shocking when “The Matrix” earned the win with the best performance of his career. Phillips had historically been a relatively unfocused fighter who was able to coast on his skill and athleticism, but he locked in, consistently outmaneuvered a slower power puncher and showed the well-rounded form that even the truest believers figured would have been years away. Then came Phillips’ subsequent fight against Raulian Paiva where he suddenly looked like his old self, getting overaggressive, trying some bad ideas and letting the Brazilian into the fight enough that he walked away with the narrow decision victory. It has been two years since the Paiva loss, and Phillips’ lone fight in that time was a showcase against Marcelo Rojo in which he was expectedly successful. When combined with Phillips coming off a drug test suspension earlier this year, it is hard to know where he stands in 2023, even with all his potential. That provides a big opportunity for Barcelos, who is looking to recapture some of his prior success and make one last run towards contention. Barcelos’ UFC career has been frustrating. He hit the promotion in 2018 and proved to be a fully formed talent ready to compete at a high level, with an exciting style based around aggression. However, every opportunity that the UFC took to pull the trigger on Barcelos and make him a contender wound up falling apart due to injuries on either side, leaving the Brazilian spinning his wheels and facing late-notice replacements until the likes of Timur Valiev and Victor Henry finally picked him off. Barcelos is still a good fighter, but there is a real sense of what could have been if he had better luck in what now appears to be his prime. That seems especially true given that this fight—an opportunity for Barcelos to bounce back from a January loss to Umar Nurmagomedov—looks like yet another tough matchup for the Brazilian’s approach. Barcelos looks to apply pressure early and often in the name of feeling out his opponents, with the bet that any damage he absorbs early will be more than outweighed by what he can dish out once he gets his reads. Even at his most inefficient, Phillips has the speed to stay out of trouble against the Brazilian early and the cardio to not flag late, all of which adds up to his being able to frustrate Barcelos over the course of 15 minutes. The main drama is regarding whether Phillips shows up in sharp form and really shows out or just leans on his physical advantages to coast to another messy win. Either way, the pick is Phillips via decision.

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Phillips vs. Barcelos
Wells vs. Harris
Quarantillo vs. Jackson
Hadley vs. Durden
Woodson vs. Buzukja
Almabaev vs. Osbourne