Preview: UFC Fight Night 186 Main Card

Bantamweights

NR | Alex Caceres (17-12, 12-10 UFC) vs. NR | Kevin Croom (21-12, 0-0 UFC)

ODDS: Caceres (-210), Croom (+175)

Is Caceres finally turning a corner? “Bruce Leeroy” has been on the UFC roster for over a decade at this point and overcame a rough start to turn into a fun if quite inconsistent fighter. Caceres has always had plenty of obvious talent, but he has never seemed to go into a fight with any sort of game plan, instead choosing to flow with whatever fight his opponent brings. That has brought out some impressive performances from Caceres, but it has mostly meant that more focused specialists can stick to their strengths and take care of him without much resistance. Caceres had a particularly strong 2020 campaign, preventing grappling specialist Chase Hooper from getting much going, then dispatching Austin Springer within a round. Caceres looked more focused than ever in terms of pursuing a winning fight in both bouts, but it remains unclear how much of it was just the level of competition; Hooper is hanging onto the fringes of the UFC roster, and Springer has already been cut. The hope was that Caceres would get a step back up in competition to see how much of these gains are real, but instead, the UFC has decided to revisit a matchup between Caceres and Croom, who was once briefly linked to “Bruce Leeroy” as a late replacement. Croom would instead make his late-notice UFC debut a few weeks later with a 31-second submission of Roosevelt Roberts, the culmination of an entertaining decade-long career. Croom is basically the epitome of a fun journeyman. His skill level may not be the highest and he may not be the best athlete, but even in losing fights, he has shown an impressive commitment to staying aggressive and trying to turn things into a messy brawl. While Croom should be game, Caceres is simply more skilled everywhere. The pick is Caceres via first-round submission.