Preview: UFC on ESPN 47 ‘Vettori vs. Cannonier’

Featherweights

Pat Sabatini (17-4, 4-1 UFC) vs. Lucas Almeida (14-1, 1-0 UFC)

ODDS: Sabatini (-190), Almeida (+160)

Sabatini’s last loss was certainly a rude awakening, though the hope is that it was only a blip on the radar. The Pennsylvanian was a well-honed prospect coming off the Northeast regional scene in 2021, and Sabatini hit the ground running upon his UFC debut, leaning on an impressive bag of wrestling and grappling skills to win his first four UFC fights in one-sided fashion. There were still some questions about how Sabatini would hang above a certain level, but his knockout loss to Damon Jackson in September was still quite unexpected. Jackson has never been much of a knockout artist, but he managed to blitz Sabatini for a finish in a little over a minute. Almeida is an interesting rebound test for Sabatini, as the Brazilian lines up as both a beatable and dangerous opponent. Almeida lost a fun fight on the 2021 edition of Dana White’s Contender Series, which in turn led to the UFC picking him up shortly after he got a win on the regional scene. The Brazilian impressed once again in his UFC debut, looking in much improved form from a year earlier and scoring a late knockout in an entertaining war against Michael Trizano. Almeida has not been able to capitalize on that momentum, though not for lack of trying—three opponents have had to drop out of fights against him in the year since—and he should provide enough aggression to have a chance at replicating Jackson’s win over Sabatini. With that said, this still looks like a fight where Sabatini can lean on his wrestling advantage more often than not, particularly if he navigates any early danger. The pick is Sabatini via decision.

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Vettori vs. Cannonier
Tsarukyan vs. Silva
Duncan vs. Petrosyan
Sabatini vs. Almeida
Torres vs. Motta
Salikhov vs. Dalby
The Prelims