Preview: UFC 269 Prelims

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Flyweights

#4 FLW | Alex Perez (24-6, 6-2 UFC) vs. #9 FLW | Matt Schnell (15-6, 5-4 UFC)

ODDS: Perez (-320), Schnell (+260)

It may be easy to forget, but Perez’s last fight was for the UFC flyweight title. Perez certainly earned the shot, with a solid march through the ranks capped by a stoppage win over Jussier Formiga, but his fight against Deiveson Figueiredo did not turn out to be much. In less than two minutes, Figueiredo managed to clamp down on a guillotine and successfully defend his title. From there, the flyweight title picture moved on in literal record time. By the end of the night, Figueiredo was matched against Brandon Moreno for a title defense just a month later that wound up being a contender for the best fight of 2020. Since then, Perez has become a forgotten man, spending most of the year matched against Matt Schnell for a fight that has continually fallen apart until now. As for Schnell, he appears to be hitting a ceiling for the second time in his UFC career. “Danger” came to the Octagon with seemingly all the tools to be an elite flyweight, combining knockout power with a slick grappling game. However, Schnell proved to be surprisingly susceptible to being knocked out, which in turn caused him to pivot to a more cautious striking approach that takes advantage of his frame while putting his grappling in his back pocket. That shift led Schnell to four straight wins, but he has now suffered a knockout against Alexandre Pantoja and a flat decision loss to Rogerio Bontorin in two of his last three outings. Schnell could certainly rebound here. He is the much longer fighter and Perez is a relatively slow flyweight who likes to wrestle, so there is the opportunity for him to either find a submission or pick Perez apart over three rounds. With that said, Perez is typically smart and insistent enough with his pressure, including some leg kicks that were effective against Formiga, that he should be able to find a finish first. The pick is Perez via second-round knockout.

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