Preview: UFC Fight Night 181 Prelims

This uppercut by @pedritaprvtufc... #UFCAuckland pic.twitter.com/9zS4BqU4ND

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 22, 2020

Priscila Cachoeira gets #UFCAuckland off to a wicked start! pic.twitter.com/aAlkKQJidp

— Kyle Johnson (@VonPreux) February 22, 2020

Women’s Flyweights

Cortney Casey (9-8) vs. Priscila Cachoeira (9-3)

ODDS: Casey (-230), Cachoeira (+190)

When Valentina Shevchenko decided to cut down to flyweight, the UFC’s initial plan was apparently to match her with Jennifer Maia, then the Invicta Fighting Championships flyweight titleholder. However, with Maia unavailable, the promotion moved on to one of its crueler bookings in recent memory, pitting the future flyweight champion against Cachoeira. The Brazilian newcomer may have had an undefeated record at the time, but she was a stiff and straight-ahead brawler that Shevchenko figured to dominate on paper. In practice, the fight was even worse. Shevchenko’s willingness to wrestle and lack of one-shot knockout power turned the bout into an extended beating that saw Cachoeira leave with several injuries, including a shredded knee that would keep her out of action for over a year. Upon her return, Cachoeira proved to be fun if ineffective—until she surprisingly knocked out Shana Dobson in February to keep her UFC career alive. She will look to make it two in a row against Casey, whose move up to flyweight has been a mixed bag. Casey was an odd fighter as a strawweight. She was tall for the division, but she had a combination of fast hands and slow feet that essentially canceled out her physical advantages, as she would often be forced to get close to her opponents and scrap. While Casey has some solid grappling weapons, she rarely takes fights to the mat herself and is often way too content to hunt for a submission that never comes. The whole package led to a lot of split decisions for Casey, and the hope was that moving up to flyweight would make her a comparatively quicker fighter and open up the playbook. Instead, not much seems to have changed. She managed to grab a quick armbar on Mara Romero Borella, but a one-sided loss to Gillian Robertson suggests that, if anything, Casey just seems to have less of a strength advantage up 10 pounds. If Casey ever actually initiated wrestling exchanges, this would be an easy pick for her to net a submission victory, but instead, she will probably look to win this on the feet. While Cachoeira may provide some danger at times, Casey should be the much sharper striker. The pick is Casey via decision.

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