Preview: UFC Fight Night 223 Prelims

Flyweights

Cody Durden (14-4-1) vs. Charles Johnson (13-4)

ODDS: Johnson (-145), Durden (+125)

If nothing else, Johnson is making his name as someone willing to keep up an active schedule; this marks the fifth fight for "InnerG" since his UFC debut last July and his third fight of 2023. Johnson's also an interesting prospect to track; he came to the UFC with a strong record against some impressive competition, but the performances themselves were a bit uninspiring, with Johnson applying a low-pressure approach that saw him lose fights up until the point he clearly turned things around for the win. Thankfully, Johnson's recent performances have seen him turn a corner against better competition and pick up the pace, most notably winning a fun brawl against Zhalgas Zhumagulov late last year and running over Jimmy Flick in January. But that made it more frustrating when he put in a flat performance against Ode Osbourne last February, who was able to outwork Johnson and take a surprising decision win. Hopefully a bit more lead time this time around means that Johnson will bounce back to better form against Durden, who's starting to put things together himself. Durden took a more typical path to the UFC nowadays, running over a lot of subpar competition on the regional scene and learning on the job once he made it to the Octagon; Durden's still charged headlong into a quick finish at times, but he's proven increasingly able to put together three consistent rounds, mostly on the back of the wrestling game that brought him to the dance. Osbourne's surprising level of wrestling success against Johnson does raise some concerns here, but Johnson's physical ability and willingness to stay calm should see him turn the fight at some point while Durden continues to force the issue; while Durden has continued to put things together, Johnson figures to be much more composed and able to pour on some offense by the third round to take this on the scorecards, if not finish things outright. The pick is Johnson via decision.

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