Preview: UFC Fight Night 201 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday heads back to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas with an intriguing undercard. In the featured slot sits the most interesting fight of the batch, as featherweight prospect David Onama looks to build on a promising promotional debut and tries to nail down his first win inside the Octagon against Gabriel Benitez. Further down the card: Jessica-Rose Clark meets Stephanie Egger in a solid women’s bantamweight battle, and the UFC sees its second retirement bout in as many weeks, with Chas Skelly riding off into the sunset after his encounter with Mark Striegl. Beyond that, we find the usual mix of up-and-coming talent in some well-matched fights that figure to be exciting.

Now to the preview for the UFC Fight Night 201 prelims.

Featherweights

NR | David Onama (8-1, 0-1 UFC) vs. NR | Gabriel Benitez (22-9, 6-5 UFC)

ODDS: Onama (-145), Benitez (+125)

Like a lot of his castmates on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America,” Benitez has done well to overachieve and put together a strong UFC career. The most fully formed member of the cast at the time of his appearance on the reality show, Benitez has not reached the heights of potential contenders like Yair Rodriguez and Marlon Vera, but he has settled into a solid role in the middle of the UFC roster. “Moggly” manages to hold his own in any phase of a fight and throws some power, allowing him to separate the wheat from the chaff. That well-roundedness does come at the expense of any sort of focused approach, however. It is hard to think of what a typical Benitez fight looks like, as he is often content to beat his opponents where they are most comfortable. Since a late 2020 win over Justin Jaynes, it has been an exercise in frustration for Benitez, with various fights getting scrapped and his lone 2021 outing against Billy Quarantillo turning into a surprisingly one-sided loss. As he attempts to rebound, Benitez finds himself on a difficult bit of prospect-testing duty against Onama. The UFC’s first Ugandan-born fighter upon his UFC debut in October, Onama came to the UFC as an obvious high-potential talent. A massive featherweight, Onama already showed fast hands and knockout power in quickly making his way through the regional ranks. In the short term, there were a few question marks about Onama heading into his Octagon debut against Mason Jones. The Welshman presented much more of a physical challenge than any of Onama's opponents to date, and his stalking and patient style becomes much riskier against more capable competition. Jones got the win, but Onama looked about as good as possible, hanging with former two-division Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder for three electric rounds and showing the upside of a future contender. For now, it is just a matter of finding wins at the UFC level while he continues to hone his craft. Benitez is a tough out, but this does look like an opportunistic matchup for Onama. Benitez does not typically pursue the wrestling that Jones used as a safety valve, and the Mexican has gotten sparked by dynamic and more athletic strikers in the past. This could turn into a three-round war, but the pick is Onama via first-round knockout.

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