Preview: UFC Vegas 104 ‘Vettori vs. Dolidze 2’

Bantamweights

Su Young You (14-3, 1-0 UFC) vs. A.J. Cunningham (11-4, 0-1 UFC)

ODDS: You (-625), Cunningham (+455)

This shapes up as a fascinating clash of styles. You won the bantamweight bracket of the most recent edition of the “Road to UFC” tournament, and it will be interesting to see how well his game works going forward. You is a fairly one-dimensional wrestler and grappler, and while he has proven to have some creative ideas on the mat, his lack of finishing ability thus far suggests he will run into a ceiling sooner rather than later.

On the other side of things stands Cunningham, whose lone UFC appearance to date was a late-notice loss to Ludovit Klein about a year ago. Cunningham is an entertaining fighter who can pump out some solid striking volume but doesn’t have much of an eye for defense just yet, which got him knocked out against both Klein and in his 2023 Contender Series appearance against Steven Nguyen. A fascinating wrinkle is that this marks Cunningham’s move to bantamweight after a career at featherweight and lightweight. He was already tall at 145 pounds, so there’s a decent chance he drains himself here in this cut down to 135. That worry is really the main tiebreaker in a fight where it’s hard to trust either man. Cunningham has shown enough on the mat that he might be able to stall You out, but he is unproven in his own right and making a weight cut that appears to be a bad idea. The pick is You via decision.

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Vettori vs. Dolidze
Zaleski dos Santos vs. Njokuani
Vallejos vs. Choi
Hernandez vs. Holobaugh
Blackshear vs. Gibson
You vs. Cunningham
The Prelims