Preview: UFC on ESPN 29 Prelims

Light Heavyweights

NR | William Knight (9-2, 1-1 UFC) vs. NR | Fabio Cherant (7-2, 0-1 UFC)

ODDS: Knight (-195), Cherant (+168)

Raw light heavyweight prospects look for a win in this undercard pairing. The most immediately noticeable thing about Knight is that he is a physical specimen. Essentially a ball of muscle with limbs, everything Knight does has the threat of fight-ending power behind it. Thus far, that has held his game together. He is not yet a particularly comfortable striker, but the threat his physicality provides often scares opponents into bad decisions, often in the form of grappling exchanges through which Knight can overpower them and end fights. That dynamic held true in his UFC debut against Aleksa Camur, but Da Un Jung laid the flaws in Knight’s game bare in April. The Korean stayed calm and patient, threw volume at a comfortable pace from range and essentially had his way in a one-sided win. Knight looks to rebound against Cherant, who is coming off a disappointing UFC debut. Cherant is also a fighter whose game has been held together by his physicality. He is a relatively low-output striker whose best feature might be some surprising submission skills, but in general, his style would not work if it was not for the level of power backing everything he does. Of course, none of that was on display in that aforementioned Octagon debut, where Cherant immediately lost via shoulder choke in a late-notice spot against Alonzo Menifield in May. There is a chance that Knight walks into a finish, but this looks like his fight to lose if it simply comes down to who is the more physically powerful fighter. The pick is Knight via second-round knockout.

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