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A solid slate of prelims will kick off the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to the UFC Apex on Saturday in Las Vegas. The choice for the featured UFC on ESPN 25 prelim seems like a curious one, but just one fight below sits one of the best bouts on the entire card: rising strawweight talents Virna Jandiroba and Kanako Murata clash in an important battle at 115 pounds. Knockout artist Kalinn Williams figures to bring some excitement, and the Casey O'Neill-Lara Procopio appears to be the type of interesting confrontation that should reveal much about both combatants.
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Light Heavyweights
NR | Aleksa Camur (6-1, 1-1 UFC) vs. NR | Nicolae Negumereanu (9-1, 0-1 UFC)ODDS: Camur (-250), Negumereanu (+210)
A training partner of former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, Camur is firmly in the raw-but-talented camp of Dana White’s Contender Series alums. With his win over Fabio Cherant in 2019, Camur earned a UFC contract less than two years into his professional career. Considering Camur is essentially learning on the job, he looked solid in outstriking Justin Ledet in his UFC debut, though his September loss to William Knight showed some more growing pains. Despite being the theoretically better striker, Camur found himself a bit shook by Knight’s size and power, moving to a wrestling-based approach that took away all of his best skills. He should rebound here against Romania’s Negumereanu, a man last seen suffering a clear decision loss to Saparbek Safarov in March 2019.
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Negumereanu faced a particularly weak slate of competition to find his way to the Octagon and, frankly, looked unprepared to clear even the lowest of UFC-level bars in the form of Safarov, getting outwrestled and handled rather easily. There is a chance he has put the past two years to good use and looks greatly improved, but this looks like easy work for Camur, though Negumereanu has proven to be durable enough that he could deny a finish. The pick is Camur via decision.
Continue Reading » Jandiroba vs. Murata
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