Preview: UFC on ESPN 37 ‘Kattar vs. Emmett’

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Featherweights

Ricardo Ramos (15-4, 6-3 UFC) vs. Danny Chavez (11-4-1, 1-1-1 UFC)

ODDS: Ramos (-300), Chavez (+235)

This is a fascinating scrap between two talented featherweights. Ramos has had a successful UFC career thus far, winning six of his nine bouts inside of the Octagon thus far, but it still feels like things have not fully clicked for the Brazilian. “Caracinha” is a flashy and effective striker with some venomous grappling, which makes him a potent offensive force when everything goes according to plan, but he gets taken out of his game much more than he should. Ramos can shut down in the face of physicality and resistance, and some of his losses—most notably a 2020 defeat at the hands of Lerone Murphy—see him suffer a sudden finish in a fight he has clearly been winning up to that point. That makes for an interesting dynamic against Chavez, a clearly talented fighter who does not always press those advantages. “The Colombian Warrior” has some impressively fast hands and an effective kicking game but mostly sticks to a patient approach from range that gives his opponent a lot of time and space with which to work in between having to deal with Chavez’s counters. On the plus side for Chavez, his wrestling and grappling may not be quite the weakness as expected after his early 2021 loss to Jared Gordon. In a draw against Kai Kamaka III in July, Chavez did look much more effective in dealing with things on the mat. Still, Ramos figures to have the grappling advantage, and it will be interesting to see if that is enough for the Brazilian to gain some confidence and get the ball rolling downhill over the course of the fight. On the other hand, the worry is that Chavez’s speed will be enough to buzz Ramos early and either end the fight outright or scare him into a less effective approach. As the longer fighter, Ramos should land some big shots in his own right, so the bet is that is enough to give him the slight edge in a fight that could go either way, even if this feels like another performance where he managed to both impress and frustrate over the course of 15 minutes. The pick is Ramos via decision.

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