Preview: UFC Fight Night 225 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship stacked the main card for its return to Singapore, leaving the UFC Fight Night 225 prelims on Saturday to provide some expected entertainment with little in the way of immediate stakes. Heavyweights Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Lukasz Brzeski earn the featured spot as they each look to build some momentum, but the highlight can be found a bit further down, where Chidi Njokuani and Michal Oleksiejczuk square off in a middleweight scrap that is both intellectually interesting and figures to be engaging in practice. There is also the return of women’s flyweight fixture J.J. Aldrich and a few welterweight bangers, as Kenan Song’s bout against Rolando Bedoya and Yusaku Kinoshita’s clash with newcomer Billy Goff should see all four participants hunting for a knockout.

Now to the preview for the UFC Fight Night “Holloway vs. Korean Zombie” prelims:

Heavyweights

Waldo Cortes-Acosta (9-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Lukasz Brzeski (8-3-1, 0-2 UFC)

ODDS: Cortes-Acosta (-250), Brzeski (+205)

The heavyweight division remains wide open for someone to make a run up the ladder, and these two men have a decent amount of potential. Cortes-Acosta has had some frustrating performances in the UFC thus far, but that is mostly thanks to “Salsa Boy” having the talent to get more done. Decision victories over Jared Vanderaa and Chase Sherman were closer than they needed to be, particularly since Cortes-Acosta is prone to taunting and showboating at inopportune times. However, Cortes-Acosta’s first professional loss, which came in past April against Marcos Rogerio de Lima, was at least some cause for long-term optimism when it comes to the former Dominican baseball prospect. Faced with by far his most potent opponent to date, Cortes-Acosta showed off the requisite heavyweight level of durability early and eventually worked his way into the fight. Cortes-Acosta just needs time and experience, though a win against Lukasz Brzeski, who has struggled to find success at the UFC level thus far, would obviously be nice. Brzeski checks a lot of boxes in terms of size, athleticism and durability as far as heavyweight prospects go, but he has not done much to impose upon his opponents—something that cost him in a controversial split decision loss to Martin Buday in his UFC debut in 2022. Karl Williams simply outwrestled him, so Brzeski comes into this fight desperately needing to find a second gear, lest his UFC career turn out as a bit of a bust. This could turn into a bit of a slog between two fighters who find their most success leaning on their durability and outlasting their opponents. The lean is that Brzeski can keep up a slightly higher pace to end up on the right side of the scorecards. The pick is Brzeski via decision.

Jump To »
Cortes-Acosta vs. Brzeski
Armfield vs. Kazama
Oleksiejczuk vs. Njokuani
Bedoya vs. Song
Kinoshita vs. Goff
Aldrich vs. Liang
Choi vs. Errens