Preview: UFC on ESPN 60 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's latest trip to the Apex has a solid enough set of prelims, buoyed by the top two fights. Jeong Yeong Lee and Hyder Amil might not be household names, but the featherweights should combine for some entertaining violence, particularly with Amil's predilection for pushing the pace. Right below that, Brian Kelleher and Cody Gibson should have a fun scrap between two veterans each in need of a win. There’s also some interesting matchmaking on paper that might not be that entertaining in practice, with one or both fighters looking to neutralize what their opponent brings to the table.

Featherweights

Jeong Yeong Lee (11-1) vs. Hyder Amil (9-0)
Odds: Lee (-185), Amil (+154)

This should be fireworks, and that seems to be a growing trend for Amil fights. It'll be interesting to see how far Amil can carry his game, since right now he seems like the type of fighter who doesn't know he's supposed to lose; "The Hurricane" gets out-wrestled, eats offense and generally allows his opponents to have a lot of success, but he also always seems to find a way to weaponize his pace, finding second, third and fourth winds to either win rounds on the scorecards or find himself as the last man standing. That was the name of the game in both his Contender Series fight and his UFC debut against Fernie Garcia this past February, and it'll be fascinating to see if he can pull off the same trick against South Korea's Lee.

"The Korean Tiger" won the featherweight bracket of the first "Road to UFC" tournament last year with a run that was a bit hard to parse; he scored two finishes in a combined 78 seconds, then scored a narrow decision win against an opponent that successfully slowed his offense to a halt but accomplished little else. But Lee's proper UFC debut went well last February; in a fight against Blake Bilder that went just about everywhere, Lee proved he can hit hard and string together successful offense for 15 minutes given a willing dance partner. Amil is certainly that, so this should be an excellent scrap that comes down to whether the American can find Lee's breaking point; Lee's shown enough to get the benefit of the doubt, but honestly, his overall resume is still questionable enough that this fight is essentially a coin flip. The pick is Lee via decision.

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