Preview: UFC Vegas 107 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s latest stop at the UFC Apex serves up a decent preliminary slate on Saturday in Las Vegas. Grappling is the main theme for the UFC on ESPN 68 undercard. The featured flyweight tilt between Jafel Filho and Allan Nascimento pairs off two fighters who are at their best on the mat, and a lightweight scrap pitting Kurt Holobaugh against Jordan Leavitt could also see plenty of interesting action on the ground. From there, the promotional debut of welterweight Andreas Gustafsson stands out as the clear highlight, as he gets a chance to implement some violence against Trevin Giles.

Now to the UFC on ESPN 68 “Blanchfield vs. Barber” prelims:

Flyweights

Allan Nascimento (20-6, 2-1 UFC) vs. Jafel Filho (16-3, 2-1 UFC)

ODDS: Nascimento (-155), Filho (+130)

Filho has quietly put together two impressive wins after an unsuccessful UFC debut. After earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022, the Brazilian was thrown into the fire against top prospect Muhammad Mokaev for his first trip to the Octagon. Filho had a strong performance that included clamping on a kneebar that would have earned a submission from most opponents, but Mokaev staged a comeback, scored a late finish and left the Nova Uniao rep to do some solid work on the prelims. Filho’s game is built around pure aggression, and that has worked well against Daniel Barez and Ode Osbourne, as both fights quickly saw “Pastor” close ranks, throw power and find a submission within a round. That looks to be a much tougher ask against Nascimento, who has a case as one of the most underrated fighters on the UFC roster. Nascimento narrowly lost to Raulian Paiva on the lone Brazilian edition of the Contender Series back in 2018, but the assumption was that “Puro Osso” would find his way to the UFC in short order. Nascimento was indeed signed as soon as he got a win on the regional scene, but it took him three years to get that fight, portending the inactivity that has kept him from making much headway in the UFC. Nascimento went nip-tuck with Tagir Ulanbekov in his UFC debut, then took about half a year between each of his next two fights—a neutralizing decision win over Jake Hadley and a quick submission over Carlos Hernandez, the latter of which remains his only fight since the start of 2023. The Hernandez win also marked an impressive turn for Nascimento that makes it a shame he hasn’t been back in action since. He has primarily used a more patient approach to peck away at his opponents and lure them into his grappling game, but against Hernandez, he simply got after things and made his life much easier as a result. The read here is that Nascimento is skilled enough to frustrate Filho on the feet and eventually find something on the ground. However, it wouldn’t be a shock if Filho’s baseline aggression allows him to cause some major damage. The pick is Nascimento via second-round submission.

Jump To »
Filho vs. Nascimento
Chiasson vs. Vieira
Leavitt vs. Holobaugh
Gustafsson vs. Giles
Oki vs. Mederos
dos Santos vs. Ardelean