Preview: UFC Fight Night 214 ‘Rodriguez vs. Lemos’

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Heavyweights

Chase Sherman (16-10, 4-9 UFC) vs. Josh Parisian (15-5, 2-2 UFC)

ODDS: Sherman (-130), Parisian (+110)

No one knows how long the good vibes will last, but it was nice to see Sherman finally get a win in July. Sherman made his UFC debut in 2016 as a raw but athletically talented prospect who never quite put things together. At a certain point, it became apparent that “The Vanilla Gorilla” was not making the necessary gains on defense. Released in 2018, Sherman found himself back in the UFC two years later. A lot of the same issues persisted, but Sherman was at least now a more diverse striker who could get some more effective things done on offense. However, he seemingly hit a breaking point in his career where he could easily be taken out of fights. No matter how strong his start, Sherman would just suddenly flag if he could not put his opponent away, leading to concerning loss after concerning loss until the UFC cut him again in April. Naturally, the UFC needed a late-replacement heavyweight the next week, so Sherman suddenly found himself back under contract, apparently at twice his previous rate, which made everyone feel a bit better when he got run over by Alexander Romanov. A July fight against Jared Vanderaa figured to be Sherman’s last chance inside the Octagon, and he put on his best performance in years, even staging a late comeback to score a third-round knockout. Sherman is still just 32 years old after all this, so there is a chance yet that he could turn a legitimate corner. A strong performance against Parisian could prove plenty. Parisian finally earned a UFC contract in 2020 after a few years of being on the fringes of a call-up, which made his UFC debut a bit of a disappointment. After finding much of his regional success as the larger man and better athlete at heavyweight, Parisian simply did not get much done in a slog of a loss against Parker Porter. Since then, it has been a mixed bag, as Parisian mostly looks to swamp his opponents with creative offense without much in the way of technical depth. As a result, there has been a clear level of delineation where Parisian can overwhelm the lower reaches of the UFC roster but mostly hits a wall against larger and stouter athletes. Sherman is probably in that former category, so while there is a chance for the Mississippian to find a knockout, it seems likelier that Parisian just slowly drags him into a losing effort. The pick is Parisian via second-round stoppage.

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Rodriguez vs. Lemos
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