Preview: UFC Fight Night 237 Prelims

Lightweights

Fares Ziam (14-4, 4-2 UFC) vs. Claudio Puelles (12-3, 5-2 UFC)

ODDS: Ziam (-218), Puelles (+180)

Puelles’ momentum certainly vanished rapidly. The Peruvian had a fairly unmemorable start to his UFC career, coming to the promotion as a fresh-faced 20-year-old and losing “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” Season 3 final to Martin Bravo. From there, injuries limited Puelles to just one fight over the course of the next three years, as he suffered a one-sided beating against Felipe Silva before suddenly winning the fight with a kneebar submission. Puelles eventually found his groove and put together a five-fight winning streak. The first few wrestling-heavy victories did not get much notice, but after Puelles rattled off two more slick kneebar submissions against Chris Gruetzemacher and Clay Guida, “The Prince of Peru” suddenly looked like someone to watch. That run earned Puelles a slot on pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in 2022, but he made about the worst impression possible in the biggest spot of his career against Dan Hooker. He looked out of his depth early, then tired himself diving for submissions in a disheartening loss. Fifteen months later, Puelles looks to start anew against France’s Ziam, who has had a solid if unspectacular UFC career thus far. A lanky lightweight, “Smile Killer” typically prefers to keep his opponents at range in a slow-paced kickboxing match, with the backup plan of attempting to win an ugly clinch grind if his foes can close ranks. It has worked decently enough, but there is still the sense that things can go off the rails for Ziam at any moment. He has not shown much finishing ability, and he has not looked particularly great when opponents have decided to get extremely aggressive and try to blow Ziam’s game up. Another kneebar submission for Puelles is certainly on the table, but Ziam does seem to clear the standard of being able to stay out of trouble, even if this should be an ugly fight no matter the result. The pick is Ziam via decision.

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