UFC Mexico City: Exciting, hopefully

UFC Mexico City is a solid card overall, even if the prelims are a hodgepodge of who’s-whos hoping to separate themselves from the pack. The opening fight aka the curtain-jerker, would be more fitting in the featured prelim spot as Naimov is looking like a real deal prospect with a fairly high ceiling. Alas, we get Cristian Quiñonez vs. Raoni Barcelos, which is fine, I guess, but Barcelos has been looking pretty shopworn lately, so we’re giving this one a partial side eye.

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There are a couple themes going on with this event. First, it is a night of rematches. Both the main and co-main events are rematches. Buried inside those rematches are others dotting the resumes of all four men featuring in the top two bouts. This card has three rematches on it, which seems like a lot. I’m making a mental note to go back and find out what the record is for rematches on a single UFC card. I’m willing to bet that this event is pretty far up the list.

Edgar Cháirez vs. Daniel Lacerda is the third contest featured in that aforementioned trio of rematches. Their first bout ended in a no contest after the referee in their bout jumped the gun and stopped the fight prematurely. This was back in September. The two were scheduled to run it back in October, but Lacerda pulled out prior to the card citing a medical issue. They will finally get their opportunity at a full fight tomorrow.

There is one more contest on this undercard that looks interesting, though. Claudio Puelles vs. Fares Ziam Pits the well rounded skillset of Ziam against the explosive grappling of Puelles. Claudio was made to look like a one-trick pony against Dan Hooker, but perhaps he took some lessons from that one. Either way, that one definitely has our attention. Let’s take a look at the undercard as well as some fun factoids.

UFC Mexico City Prelims

* Cristian Quiñonez  vs.  Raoni Barcelos 135 lbs

* Jesus Aguilar  vs.  Mateus Mendonça 125 lbs

* Edgar Cháirez  vs.  Daniel Lacerda 125 lbs

* Claudio Puelles  vs.  Fares Ziam 155 lbs

* Luis Rodríguez  vs.  Denys Bondar 125 lbs

* Victor Altamirano  vs.  Felipe dos Santos 125 lbs

* Muhammad Naimov  vs.  Erik Silva 145 lbs

UFC Mexico City Fun Factoids

* Ranked fights: 2

* Ranked fighters: 4

* Fighters coming off a loss: 15

* Contender Series alumni: 12

* TUF alumni: 3

* Debuting fighters: 1

* Combate alumni: 6

Don’t forget to check out the bonus section for a great review of the UFC 298 preliminary card. Make sure to tune in immediately after this weekend’s fights for breakdowns and analysis on our 6th Round Post-Fight Show.

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