Bantamweights
BETTING ODDS: Castaneda (-120); Vologdin
(+100)
Castaneda (21-8; 4-4 UFC) welcomes
Dana White’s Contender Series graduate Vologdin to the UFC in a
probable bantamweight banger. “Sexi Mexi” joined the promotion as a
short-notice Covid signing and, like quite a few other fighters
that year, parlayed his shot at the big time into steady employment
as a reliable mid-card action fighter.
Castaneda is a solid, high-volume striker and a decent offensive
wrestler who constantly presses the issue; he has no reverse gear
and, once the punches start flying, rarely even downshifts. It
makes for consistently fun fights especially when faced with a
similar opponent, but when Castaneda finds himself at a physical or
tactical disadvantage, he usually doesn’t make any adjustments
other than to keep doing the same thing, only harder. He’s taken a
good amount of punishment over the years and at 34, may be starting
to slow a bit.
Every season of the Contender Series seems to produce one or two
absolute barnburners that leave the Apex hundreds on their feet and
inspire Dana White to sign the losing as well as the winning
fighter. Vologdin, who came up short against Juan Adrian Luna
Martinetti in a blood-soaked brawl last October, is the most recent
beneficiary of that phenomenon, but he has the tools the be more
than just “the Stephan
Bonnar of Season 9.”
The baby-faced Russian, who turns 26 on fight night but looks 16,
is a short, burly and very athletic bantamweight. He presents as a
classic wrestle-boxer, but unlike many shorter fighters who look to
close the distance quickly and then stay on the inside as much as
possible, he likes to set up outside, feint and then spring into
range with bursts of punches. It’s an approach reminiscent of
Michael
Chandler—at least, when Vologdin sticks to it. In his memorable
scrap on DWCS, he had success early on as an out-fighter against
Luna, who despite being much taller wanted the close-quarters
fight. However, once the punches started flying, Vologdin quickly
abandoned that plan, planted his feet and swung back. That led
directly to the wild fight, and indirectly to his being signed to
the UFC off of a loss, but there is a decent chance that he could
have beaten Luna with a more disciplined approach to his original
game plan.
Everything about this matchup screams “Fight of the Night.” Both
fighters are known for ratcheting up the aggression, both are
high-volume strikers, and both are capable of wrestling but tend to
neglect it when they’re having fun on the feet. This one is a near
pick ‘em on the odds, but I like the younger, still-improving
prospect in this one. The pick is Vologdin by decision.
Jump To »
Leblanc vs. Valentin
Boser vs. Saricam
Croden vs. Zheleznyakova
Aldrich vs. Horth
Raposo vs. Nascimento
Castaneda vs. Vologdin
Siraj vs. Yannis
