Preview: UFC Fight Night 155 ‘De Randamie vs. Ladd’

Middleweights
Marvin Vettori (12-4-1) vs. Cezar Ferreira (13-7)
Odds: Vettori (-140), Ferreira (+120)

Coming off his season-winning performance on the first season of TUF: Brazil, "Mutante" Ferreira got comparisons to his mentor Vitor Belfort, but as it turns out, his career arc has gone a lot more of the Alistair Overeem route. Ferreira did fine in the early going of his UFC career, but after getting sparked by C.B. Dollaway in 39 seconds, the book was out that the Brazilian had a glass jaw, as that started a run of three first-round knockout losses in four fights. After the last of those, an ill-advised cut to welterweight that saw Ferreira get run over by Jorge Masvidal, Ferreira took some time off to rebuild his game and looked much the better for it, focusing on his underrated wrestling as needed while adopting a much more defensive striking style. It served him well, with five wins in next six fights, though his last bout against Ian Heinisch was a bit of a worry, as Heinisch's relentless pressure seemed to mentally break Ferreira after a point. Even at 34, there's still the sense that Ferreira has a bit more upward trajectory left in him, but Vettori's exactly the type of prospect that he needs to beat in order to prevent getting lapped.

Vettori's part of the latest wave of Italian prospects and is a perfectly fine fighter, even if there's the sense that he's capable of a bit more. But then again, he made his UFC debut just three years into his pro career and has shown some gradual improvement over his ensuing five fights. Vettori's a bit of a jack of all trades and master of none type, and despite some solid wrestling skills, he's focused on a pressure striking game to a fault; it made both of his 2017 bouts, a win over Vitor Miranda and a draw against Omari Akhmedov, more difficult than they needed to be. Things came together a bit in his last bout, an April 2018 affair against Israel Adesanya, and what looked at the time like a frustrating performance where Vettori's pressure was inconsistent has aged quite well, with "The Italian Dream" coming as close as anyone to stealing a win off of middleweight's hottest talent. Vettori's been out of action since then due to failing a drug test for a tainted supplement, and it'll be interesting to see exactly what improvements he's made during his time off.

Whatever progress Vettori has made over the last 15 months will probably tell the tale of this fight. Based off his last few performances, his pressure game isn't quite clicking at the level it needs to in order to get a win here; if that version of Vettori shows up, Ferreira can probably stay at range, circle away as needed and pick away to a frustrating decision victory. But this could be the fight where Vettori finally turns the corner, turns up the heat and similar to the Heinisch fight, eventually breaks Ferreira through sheer persistence. Without seeing those improvements yet, the pick is still Ferreira via decision, but it does feel like Vettori's on the trajectory where he can win this fight sooner rather than later.

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