Preview: UFC on ESPN 51 Prelims

Bantamweights

Da’Mon Blackshear (13-5-1, 1-1-1 UFC) vs. Jose Johnson (15-7, 0-0 UFC)

ODDS: N/A

Blackshear looks to keep building some momentum after an impressive performance in June. He came to the UFC about a year ago as an interesting prospect who was not necessarily guaranteed to find his footing. “Da Monster” has a large frame for the bantamweight division and found plenty of success swamping his opposition, but his aggressive and wrestling-heavy style left him just as open to his opponent turning the tables on him, making for a lot of back-and-forth affairs. It was not necessarily a surprise when his debut ended in a draw against Youssef Zalal, and after dropping a decision to Farid Basharat, Blackshear rebounded with a complete showing against Luan Lacerda, eventually pounding out the Brazilian on the ground when the Nova Uniao rep attempted an unsuccessful kneebar. Johnson steps in during fight week for his long-anticipated UFC debut here, and it will be interesting to see exactly where “Lobo Solitario” goes from this point forward. Johnson is even longer than Blackshear, with a particularly reedy frame for a bantamweight, and he seems dedicated to initiating chaos. If Johnson’s fights do not end with a quick knockout, he is a particularly active grappler from his back and long enough to make some surprising things happen for someone who generally appears to be quite messy. That should lead to a bunch of wild momentum swings, but the bet is that Blackshear is enough of a well-practiced athlete to eventually blow this fight open, even if getting there might be an adventure. The pick is Blackshear via second-round submission.

Jump To »
Buys vs. McGhee
McKinney vs. Breeden
Marshall vs. Dulgarian
Buday vs. Parisian
Amorim vs. Ruiz
Blackshear vs. Johnson
Santos vs. Miller