Preview: UFC Fight Night 202 Prelims

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UFC Fight Night 202 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas offers a surprisingly strong slate of prelims for a second-tier Ultimate Fighting Championship event. The top three bouts stand out, led by the featured pairing between high-upside lightweight prospects Ignacio Bahamondes and Zhu Rong; at this point, Bahamondes seems guaranteed to bring excitement every time out. Meanwhile, a women’s featherweight tilt between Josiane Nunes and promotional newcomer Ramona Pascual figures to result in a finish, and Terrance McKinney looks to follow his electric Octagon debut with another quick win over Fares Ziam. Beyond those, the undercard sees more standard fare, though the opener between debuting flyweights Victor Altamirano and Carlos Hernandez should live up to the 125-pound division’s high standard of action.

Now to the preview for the UFC Fight Night “Makhachev vs. Green” prelims:

Lightweights

NR | Ignacio Bahamondes (12-4, 1-1 UFC) vs. NR | Zhu Rong (18-4, 1-1 UFC)

ODDS: Bahamondes (-220), Rong (+180)

Young guns square off in the featured prelim. Chile’s Bahamondes was a hard prospect to ignore during his 2020 showing on Dana White’s Contender Series, as “La Jaula” put on a dynamic performance and poured on the offense before scoring a highlight-reel front kick knockout of Edson Gomez in the second round. Already a massive welterweight at 6-foot-3, it came as a minor surprise when Bahamondes announced his UFC debut would be at lightweight. In a cheeky bit of matchmaking, the UFC matched Bahamondes against John Makdessi, who was clearly his toughest test to date but also notoriously one of the shorter and stockier fighters in the division. Bahamondes figured to be able to take advantage of his gigantic size advantage, but the Chilean’s UFC debut was a mixed bag. It was an absolute war that did plenty to raise Bahamondes’ profile, but he also narrowly missed weight and wound up suffering a decision loss. Bahamondes’ sophomore effort showed a lot of the same issues, as he values offense and volume over all else and is more than willing to get hit in return. However, he found a return to his winning ways against Roosevelt Roberts, closing the show with a wheel kick that was one of the better knockouts of the year. At 24 years old, Bahamondes is the old man in his matchup with China’s Rong—the UFC’s first fighter born in 2000. Despite his youth, Rong put together a strong resume on the Chinese regional scene, gaining enough notice that his UFC debut was a massive disappointment. Against Rodrigo Vargas, Rong looked gun-shy and frustrated when his counterpart refused to engage him in a brawl. Rong put together a much more consistent performance against Brandon Jenkins in September, leaning on his wrestling and eventually scoring a third-round stoppage on the ground. Bahamondes’ constant willingness to engage does make this a good fight for Rong. The Chinese prospect is much more in his element when the fight is brought to him, and Bahamondes’ lack of defense does give back a lot of his gains against opponents who are willing to stand their ground and throw down. However, without a finish, Bahamondes will be the fighter pressing the action and throwing more volume, so the Chilean should be able to take this on the scorecards. The pick is Bahamondes via decision.

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