Preview: UFC Vegas 101 Prelims

Women’s Strawweights

Fatima Kline (6-1, 0-1 UFC) vs. Victoria Dudakova (8-1, 2-1 UFC)

ODDS: Kline (-800), Dudakova (+550)

Kline had a rightful amount of hype ahead of her late-notice UFC debut in 2024. The Long Islander could do a bit of everything, supplementing her standout grappling game with a solid sense of when to pick her spots or pour on the pressure, whether through striking or wrestling. For all the talent and skill, the 24-year-old’s UFC debut proved that she isn’t a natural flyweight, or at least one who belongs on the Top 15. She stepped in on late notice against Jasmine Jasudavicius in a fight that was essentially considered a coinflip but found herself unable to bully a tall 125er. Kline now gets a step back, both in terms of level of competition and dropping back down to 115 pounds, for her sophomore effort. Dudakova was an extremely raw signing off the Contender Series in 2022, and it’s still a bit hard to tell exactly where the Russian will go from here as someone who has physical talent but hasn’t proven much depth of skill. Dudakova won her contract in hard-nosed fashion and almost exclusively through her wrestling, in part because her awkwardness on the feet led to her fighting through a torn ACL. That led to an almost year-long layoff until her UFC debut, where the hope was that some questions would get answered about Dudakova against Istela Nunes. Then Nunes got injured in 34 seconds, leaving the Russian as a bit of a question mark. She looked decent enough against Jinh Yu Frey in a fight that mostly spoke to the latter’s late-career ineffectiveness and inactivity, then suffered her first loss to Sam Hughes in August, which was once again a game effort but showed that she might have some difficulty against opponents with a focused game plan. That probably includes Kline, who might have her own difficulties against a standout athlete but seems to be dogged enough to ensure that things will keep working. The pick is Kline via decision.

Jump To »
Johnson vs. Bunes
Tulio vs. Potieria
Moises vs. Ogden
Smith vs. Parsons
Karekcaite vs. Caliari
Gadzhiyasulov vs. Lopes
Kline vs. Dudakova
Aliev vs. Solecki