Bantamweights
BETTING ODDS: Jourdain (-140); Phillips (+110)
In the co-main event, Phillips (12-4; 6-3 UFC) seeks to pick up his
first win in two years against the red-hot Jourdain (17-8-1; 8-7
UFC), who is perfect since dropping down to 135 pounds. On one
hand, the “Matrix” is 6-3 in the UFC and commands enough clout to
be the A-side of a UFC co-headliner. On the other, it’s difficult
not to see his UFC run as a bit of a letdown; five years ago when
he took a huge step up and upset Top-10 contender Yadong
Song, Phillips looked like a future star who would be fighting
for titles by now, not trying to stave off a third straight
loss.
Phillips was, and remains, a nimble, fluid athlete who employs his
natural gifts in service of an unconventional striking attack. His
karate-based style is heavy on the movement, switches stances
smoothly and employs the natural dexterity in his kicks. At his
best, Phillips is a very underrated offensive wrestler who uses his
speed and the element of surprise to get easy takedowns against
foes who start to chase him on the feet.
The flaws in Phillips’ game have been illustrated in his last two
fights. Rob
Font frustrated him badly on the feet simply by coming forward,
pressuring him with a persistent jab and cutting off the cage, a
bit like a bantamweight version of Sean
Strickland vs. Israel
Adesanya. Vinicius
Oliveira was able to pursue and track him down, at which point
Oliveira’ advantages in size, strength and power came into play. In
both cases, Phillips’ striking volume, which has always been
inconsistent, fell off badly once he was challenged and put on his
back foot.
Jourdain’s move down from featherweight has been brilliant thus
far. At featherweight, he was a freakishly quick, high-flying
striker whose front headlock was just as fast as his front snap
kick, but he ran into a ceiling against Sean
Woodson and Jean Silva,
whose advantages in sheer size and power were too much to overcome.
Through two fights at 135 pounds, the returns have been good, as
Jourdain has still been easily the faster man in the cage, and he
has looked outstanding in tapping out Victor
Henry and Davey Grant
with nearly identical guillotine chokes.
Jourdain is a high-volume striker who switches stances frequently,
moving around on the outside and chipping away with jabs and low
kicks, setting up openings to explode with flying knees or head
kicks. While Jourdain clearly favors striking, he is a venomously
opportunistic grappler, with a front headlock every bit as
dangerous as his arsenal of flying ninja stuff on the feet. He now
counts four submissions, all of them by guillotine choke, since his
last knockout in the UFC.
Jourdain is a slight favorite here, but I think the matchup and the
momentum both favor him more strongly than the line suggests.
Phillips is faced here with a striker who can match his speed and
outgunning him with volume and power, and even if he turns to his
wrestling, there’s no guarantee that he will be able to get
Jourdain down—assuming he doesn’t just shoot straight into a
guillotine. That’s actually a distinct possibility, and the pick
here is that Jourdain gets slightly the better of a fun striking
battle in Round 1 before snaring Phillips in his patented choke for
a second-round submission.
Jump To »
Burns vs. Malott
Phillips vs. Jourdain
Nallo vs. Herbert
Jasudavicius vs. Silva
Moises vs. Young
Buzukja vs. Barbosa
The Prelims
