Preview: UFC on ESPN 43 Prelims

Featherweights

Steven Peterson (19-10, 3-4 UFC) vs. Lucas Alexander (7-3, 0-1 UFC)

ODDS: Peterson (-170), Alexander (+145)

After the second year-plus layoff of his UFC career, it is good to have Peterson back. Peterson does not look to have any sort of championship-level ceiling, but he is a welcome addition to any card, fighting behind a straightforward approach designed to bring violence. “Ocho” essentially looks to march his opponent down and start exchanging, with the extra switch-up of having a decent level of wrestling and grappling in his back pocket. It does not take much to outmaneuver Peterson, but he is seemingly impossible to stop and has almost always dragged a tough fight out of his opposition. Peterson’s last fight was against fellow veteran scrapper Julian Erosa in a fun brawl; after narrowly dropping the decision there, Peterson returns roughly 14 months later to take on Alexander. Brazil’s Alexander is a talent to watch, but there is some question as to whether he can stick on the UFC roster in the short term. Alexander is a powerful athlete with a particularly potent kicking game, but takedown defense has stuck out as a particular issue in his career thus far—a point driven home by a quick submission loss to Joanderson Brito in his UFC debut. This should be a fairly straight-ahead war, and while Peterson could find some success with his wrestling and bank some rounds, the bet is that Alexander separates himself on the scorecards as the harder shot-for-shot hitter in a fight without much defense. The pick is Alexander via decision.

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