Preview: UFC on ESPN 46 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday will return to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas with a preliminary slate that feels a bit deeper than expected. In the featured slot at UFC on ESPN 46, bantamweights Daniel Santos and Johnny Munoz Jr. square off in an interesting stylistic matchup, but there are some more notable pieces further down the lineup. Former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski gets back in action against Don’Tale Mayes, while promising Tajik prospects Muin Gafurov and Muhammadjon Naimov make their late-notice promotional debuts. From there, we find the usual array of well-matched prospects and veterans for a solid appetizer to an entertaining main course.

Now to the preview for the UFC on ESPN 46 prelims:

Bantamweights

Daniel Santos (11-2, 1-1 UFC) vs. Johnny Munoz Jr. (12-2, 2-2 UFC)

ODDS: Santos (-205), Munoz (+175)

A late scratch from UFC 288 in April, it is nice to see an interesting stylistic matchup stay intact. Santos has flown a bit under the radar during his year-plus on the UFC roster, during which “Willycat” has established himself as one of the promotion’s more exciting recent newcomers. Santos has a fairly straight-ahead approach built around marching down his opponents and hunting for a knockout, but he sticks to his guns effectively and seems unshakeable in his goal. He forced Julio Arce to stay on point for all 15 minutes of their fight, then came back from the brink of defeat to score his own knockout of John Castaneda in October. The loss to Arce did prove that Santos can be outmaneuvered by opponents with the requisite skills, but that figures to be a high bar for a lot of the UFC’s bantamweight division. It is a standard Munoz looks to clear here. Munoz has had to learn on the job in the UFC, owing to the fact that “Kid Kvenbo” did not face the highest level of competition prior to stepping in on late notice for a 2020 UFC debut. Munoz found most of his regional success with his grappling and little else, and after losing his first Octagon assignment to Nathan Maness despite banking plenty of control time, he has done well to adjust and try to add some more impactful offense to his game. Munoz has shown a solid sense of the basics in his last few fights, but the American still looks to be facing an uphill battle against higher-level athletes with some knockout power—two boxes Santos checks. Munoz could make some hay on the ground, but this looks like the Brazilian’s fight to lose. The pick is Santos via second-round knockout.

Jump To »
Santos vs. Munoz
Mayes vs. Arlovski
Castaneda vs. Gafurov
Mullarkey vs. Naimov
Reed vs. Frey
Lacerda vs. Blackshear
Grishin vs. Lins