BETTING ODDS: Sola (-200); Bonfim (+170)
The older Bonfim brother seeks to proper the ship after his
disastrous final outing, whereas Sola makes an attempt to bounce again from his
first UFC loss on this light-weight preliminary matchup.
Heading into UFC Vegas 111 final November, “Marreta” was already the
apparent second fiddle to his youthful, greater brother Gabriel
Bonfim, who headlined the cardboard, however even when he didn’t have the
identical contender upside as his sibling, he gave the impression to be settling
right into a strong function as a dependable light-weight motion fighter who
may alternate wins and losses whereas selecting up semi-regular bonus
checks for the following few years.
That was thrown into query, nevertheless, when Bonfim missed weight
by 5 kilos, then appeared depressing towards Chris
Padilla, who ended up overwhelming him with strikes within the
second spherical. The onus is now on the 30-year-old Brazilian to show
that the Padilla struggle was simply an aberration.
Assuming that’s the case, Bonfim at his greatest is a kindred spirit
to live-by-the-sword former foes Terrance
McKinney and Nazim
Sadykhov, an explosive powerhouse of an offensive fighter who
is determined by bursts of fight-changing offense, however struggles to win
fights when these momentary bursts don’t materialize, and is
defensively susceptible the entire time. After his losses to Sadykhov
and Padilla in his final two outings, it’s additionally truthful to query
Bonfim’s gameness and sturdiness, which can put a tough ceiling on
his potential within the hypercompetitive light-weight division.
Sola, like Bonfim, must show that the disappointing loss in
his final struggle was an outlier, although the optics for the
28-year-old Frenchman weren’t almost as dire. After a powerful
TKO win over Rhys McKee
in his UFC debut at welterweight final September, Sola carried his
then-undefeated 10-0-1 file into his first foray into his
most popular weight class towards Mason Jones
at UFC London in March. He got here up brief, beginning sturdy however
dropping the final two rounds because the Welshman’s grit, well-rounded
recreation and higher expertise got here to bear.
The Frenchman presents as a kickboxer, and regardless of his lengthy body,
he does a few of his greatest work in shut quarters, exploding with
punches, together with some heavy physique pictures, punctuated by chopping
short-range leg kicks. Against McKee, who loved peak and attain
benefits over Sola however couldn’t match his pace or energy, it was
devastating.
Sola’s offensive wrestling recreation doesn’t make for good takedown
stats however it’s efficient within the context of his struggle type; even
if he doesn’t get the struggle to the bottom—and infrequently, that may not
even be the objective—he makes use of the shot to shut the gap, run his
foe to the fence and apply his strong soiled boxing.
My preview present co-host Keith and I had been divided on this struggle, as
he picked the underdog Bonfim to win a minimum of two rounds out of
three by hurting Sola along with his large flurries of offense. I felt, and
nonetheless really feel, snug with Sola because the reasonable favourite,
particularly if Bonfim’s tendency to wilt within the face of punishment
holds true. The choose is Sola by resolution.
Jump To »
Walker vs. Petersen
Jacoby vs. Said
Ponzinibbio vs. Patterson
Bonfim vs. Sola
Ribeiro vs. Tuchalov
Aliev vs. Davis
Gibson vs. Hussein
