Preview: UFC 267 Prelims

Welterweights

NR | Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (22-7, 8-3 UFC) vs. NR | Benoit St. Denis (8-0, 0-0 UFC)

ODDS: Zaleski dos Santos (-220), St. Denis (+180)

It has been a confusing few years for Zaleski dos Santos. After dropping his UFC debut to Nicolas Dalby in 2015, the Brazilian quickly became one of the welterweight division’s most underrated fighters, putting together a seven-fight winning streak that included some exciting performances. “Capoeira” did not get much shine for most of that run, so it was nice when the UFC finally put some promotional weight behind him, placing him in a co-main event slot for what turned into a showcase win against Curtis Millender. Just as Zaleski dos Santos finally seemed to be turning a career corner, things went south. In a featured slot against Jingliang Li in China, Zaleski dos Santos put in a notably poor performance before getting stopped in the third round. While Zaleski dos Santos split a pair of fights in 2020—he narrowly beat Alexey Kunchenko before dropping a close bout to Muslim Salikhov—neither bout brought the type of electric violence off of which Zaleski dos Santos had made his name. After 15 months off, he is hopefully in better form against a UFC newcomer in St. Denis. France’s “God of War” has impressed during his less than three years as a professional, mostly on the back of a powerful grappling game that has led him to seven submission victories in eight fights. St. Denis definitely has some tools and is a prospect to watch, but even this lesser version of Zaleski dos Santos represents a huge step up in competition. The Brazilian should have enough grappling in his pocket to neutralize St. Denis’ best weapons, and Zaleski dos Santos offers enough in terms of creative and powerful striking that something big should eventually land. The pick is Zaleski dos Santos via second-round knockout.

Continue Reading » Gamzatov vs. Oleksiejczuk