A fun pairing sees two welterweights look for their first UFC win.
Fletcher kicked off the 2021 edition of Dana White’s Contender
Series in style. Participating in the first fight of the season,
Fletcher quickly ended things with a brutal flying knee for a
sudden knockout. Despite having an interesting grab bag of skills,
Fletcher has not gotten over the hump for a victory in the UFC
after two tries. “The Ghost” has some surprisingly effective
wrestling to go along with his ability to uncork some knockout
power, but he has been undone a bit by his physical limitations.
While Fletcher is a powerful athlete, he is about as short and
squat as any welterweight on the roster; and the UFC did not do him
any favors by matching him against some more typically sized
powerhouses in Matthew
Semelsberger and Ange Loosa.
Given time, Fletcher should continue to figure things out, as he
has shown a ton of grit and heart. He fought impressively through
exhaustion against Loosa after dumping his gas tank in unsuccessful
pursuit of a knockout. With that said, he badly needs a win in the
short term against a promotional newcomer in Gorimbo. The second
Zimbabwean in the UFC’s history, “The Answer” did well to even get
to this point, fleeing the country as a teenager and starting his
mixed martial arts career in South Africa. He has shown solid
skills for the regional level. Even if he reads as a bouncy striker
at first, Gorimbo has displayed some chops as a wrestler and
grappler to earn a lot of his wins. The issue comes translating
that up a level. The UFC picks up enough raw prospects that Gorimbo
could be able to find a few wins, but he has clearly fallen short
against opponents with strong wrestling games of their own.
Fletcher seems to fit that bill, along with being a more powerful
athlete, so this looks to be the UFC veteran’s fight to lose,
despite the ever-present size disadvantage. The pick is Fletcher
via first-round submission.
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