Preview: UFC Fight Night ‘Edgar vs. Faber’

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WELTERWEIGHTS

Hyun Gyu Lim (13-4-1, 3-1 UFC) vs. Neil Magny (14-3, 7-2 UFC)

THE MATCHUP: Outside the main event, this looks like the card’s strongest contender for “Fight of the Night” honors. South Korea’s Lim viciously knocked out Takenori Sato in his last outing and dropped a thrilling war to Tarec Saffiedine before that, while Magny’s February win over Kiichi Kunimoto ran his current winning streak to six. The winner should get a top-15 opponent -- if not higher -- in his next fight, with a chance to vault into the ranks of the true contenders.

Lim is a vicious bomber with great size for the division. He likes to move forward and pressure, working his way into the pocket behind a long front kick and round kicks to cut off his opponent’s movement in space. Once at his preferred punching distance, Lim wings powerful hooks and a beautiful counter straight right-left hook combination, along with a stepping knee to stop opponents from changing levels for takedowns. His defensive wrestling is excellent, and he excels at catching kicks and either countering or turning them into takedowns of his own. Positional grappling and submissions are not his strong suit, but brutal ground strikes make him lethal from top position. Despite his size and the presumably difficult weight cut, Lim has good cardio and fights at a blistering pace deep into the fight. The problem with all of this is defense. Lim gets hit way too much and does not utilize his size to avoid his opponents’ shots in any meaningful way. Although his chin is granite for now, that cannot last forever.

Magny is Lim’s polar opposite. He too has great size at 6-foot-3 and likes to pressure, but unlike the South Korean, he has excellent defense and footwork. The jab is Magny’s bread and butter, and he uses it in a variety of ways to probe, split the guard before a sharp straight right or move his opponent’s gloves to open up a right hook or overhand. Magny complements his hand combinations with sharp kicks at all levels and a hard stepping knee. As solid as he is at range, Magny is even better in the clinch, where his length aids his slick trips, throws, strong control and ability to grind against the cage. His takedown defense is excellent, and from top position, Magny passes with aplomb, throws hard ground strikes and maintains a heavy base that makes him difficult to shake off. He works at a good pace, is hard to hit cleanly and has made substantial improvements from fight to fight.

BETTING ODDS: Magny (-125), Lim (+105)

THE PICK: This is a tough fight to call. Lim has more firepower and works faster, but Magny is much more defensively sound, more consistent and should have a slight edge in the clinch. Getting it to the ground will be a difficult proposition, but if it goes there, the matchup favors Magny, as well. Most importantly, however, Magny is durable and should be able to eat at least a few of Lim’s shots. In sum, the most likely outcome is Magny by decision.

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