Preview: UFC on ESPN 32 ‘Kattar vs. Chikadze’

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Heavyweights

NR | Jake Collier (12-6, 4-5 UFC) vs. NR | Chase Sherman (15-8, 3-7 UFC)

ODDS: Collier (-130), Sherman (+110)

Three fights into his second UFC stint, Sherman is just as frustrating a prospect as the first time around. A former college football player, Sherman is a quick athlete for the heavyweight division and has plenty of tools, possessing a solid chin and showing a sharp command of his striking early on in his career. That has all held true, but within short order it became apparent that other issues would do in Sherman. He is not a one-shot knockout artist, and his lack of defense led to opponents easily being able to win wars of attrition and often finish Sherman in the process. After being released by the UFC in 2018, “The Vanilla Gorilla” won some regional fights, participated in some bareknuckle boxing and looked improved in his late-notice return near the beginning of the pandemic, showing off a much more diverse striking game on his way to a knockout win over Isaac Villanueva. However, come 2021, the same issues popped up for Sherman against Andrei Arlovski and Parker Porter. Despite a solid offensive output, Sherman ate just as much or more offense than he put out and appeared to mentally struggle between rounds against opponents who would not just go away. Sherman looks to break that two-fight skid against Collier, whose move up to heavyweight was unexpected to say the least.

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After spending most of his career at middleweight, Collier looked unrecognizable in his return from nearly three years on the shelf, nearing the heavyweight limit in his July 2020 bout against Tom Aspinall. That fight, which resulted in a quick knockout loss, did not portend great things for “The Prototype” in his new division. However, he has bounced back in his last two fights, fighting similarly but with some extra poundage on his frame. Collier is still surprisingly mobile, and while his creative striking game has been much less capable of finding a knockout at heavyweight, he has still been able to keep a strong pace over 15 minutes. Sherman has sharp enough hands that he may knock out the St. Louis native quickly in a way that Gian Villante or Carlos Felipe could not, but Collier seems likely to take over this fight if it goes any type of distance, given his more consistent approach and his counterpart’s obvious mental troubles in staying engaged over the course of fights. The pick is Collier via decision.

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