UFC Fight Night 22 Preview: Charles Oliveira vs Efrain Escudero
On Wednesday, two young lightweight prospects get set to fight each other on short notice in the co-main event of Ultimate Fight Night 22, put on the largest mixed martial arts promotion in the world, the Ultimate Fighting Championships.
Both fighters are training for each other on short notice, due to the circus of injuries surrounding this bout. Originally Escudero was set to take on John Gunderson, while a grudge match between Matt Wiman and Mac Danzig was on the card. Danzig injured himself, meaning Escudero stepped in for him. But then Danzig’s original opponent Wiman hurt himself, and instead of simply having Escudero fight Gunderson as originally planned they brought in Oliveira to replace Wiman, setting up the current bout.
Escudero is one of a large crop of promising young lightweights in the UFC’s division. The 24-year-old broke out in 2008 by winning season eight of the reality MMA tournament show, The Ultimate Fighter, defeating Phillippe Nover. He followed that up with an impressive win over Cole Miller, but then ran into another young fighter looking to make a name for himself in Evan Dunham. Dunham survived a first round beating to come back and eventually submit Escudero, with Escudero fighting incredible pain until he was injured and forced to tap. He bounced back recently with a win over Dan Lauzon in May.
Oliveira is less-well known, one of the Brazilian fighters from the local circuits who crop up in the UFC eventually with highly unpredictable talent levels. But Oliveira in his one and only UFC fight certainly wasted no time in proving he deserved to be there, submitting his opponent in just 41 seconds via armbar, earning himself the Submission of the Night bonus in the process.
Oliveira stated before the match that he hasn’t even been practising his wrestling and will be relying on his Brazilian jiu-jitsu to win him the match. It’s not an unrealistic proposition. He’s 13-0, and of his past seven fights he’s won five by submission, including his UFC debut. Though he’s faced lesser competition in Brazil, their levels of Brazilian jiu-jitsu are understandably likely pretty high. Additionally Oliveira’s only loss came by submission.
For Escudero, he’s the better rounded fighter. Having trained his kickboxing extensively, he can hang with fighters on the feet, though the heavy-handed Oliveira can be dangerous there, but Escudero should have the technical advantage. He also possesses a solid wrestling pedigree that he can use to keep the fight standing, and does also have a good submission game as well.
Betting odds and fight outlook
Escudero is the favourite as he has more tools to win. The question is whether the headstrong young fighter can rein in his emotions and give a clinical performance.
At some point this fight is likely to hit the mat, and it’s likely Escudero will be on top, making it a chess match between top control and BJJ from the bottom.
Escudero comes in as roughly a 2-1 favourite, which seems about right. There doesn’t seem to be much value either way on the betting lines, meaning perhaps keeping your money in your pocket is the right decision here.
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