Preview: UFC Fight Night 223 ‘Song vs. Simon’

Middleweights

Caio Borralho (13-1, 1 N/C) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (18-5, 1 N/C)

ODDS: Borralho (-360), Oleksiejczuk (+295)

Two interesting middleweight prospects square off here. Oleksiejczuk has had an interesting path during his five years and change on the UFC roster, to say the least. As a light heavyweight prospect on the regional scene, "Hussar" didn't seem particularly set up to succeed in the UFC; he didn't read as much of a standout athlete, and his approach seemed centered around absorbing as much damage as possible in the name of exhausting his opponent. That figured to get him obliterated in his UFC debut against Khalil Rountree, but Oleksiejczuk managed to eat everything that came his way and score a decision win, even if the excitement over Oleksiejczuk as a prospect was dulled a bit by a failed post-fight drug test. After serving his suspension, Oleksiejczuk quickly regained his momentum with two first-round knockouts, which in turn set him up for a rough skid that served as a bit of a cautionary tale; having made his hay outlasting over-aggressive opponents, Oleksiejczuk suddenly found himself as the hot-starting knockout artist that would eventually take himself out of the fight. That hit a ceiling at 205 pounds, but might wind up working perfectly for the Pole down at middleweight; he cut down to 185 pounds last summer and has looked like an absolute terror in quickly taking out Sam Alvey and Cody Brundage. Pulling it off a third time against Borralho would be an impressive bit of business, however. A powerhouse, Borralho showed off a well-rounded game in his fights on the Contender Series, but has mostly settled in as a low-output and control-heavy wrestler during his three UFC fights thus far. Borralho has talked about his intelligent approach to his fights, and while all three matchups were clearly set up where wrestling was the smartest idea, it's still been ugly to watch and dulled a bit of the excitement around "The Natural." It'd be nice if the UFC matchmaking put Borralho in a position to try and take out his opponent on the feet, but this looks like the same proposition once again, where it'll be up to Borralho to embrace the grind against a dangerous knockout artist. This is basically a coin flip since Oleksiejczuk's physicality at 185 pounds is still a bit hard to calibrate, but the bet is that Borralho can lean on his wrestling enough to grind out a win here, even with the caveat that this could go south in terrible fashion for Borralho even with one unsuccessful takedown. The pick is Borralho via decision.

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Song vs. Simon
Borralho vs. Oleksiejczuk
Vieira vs. Brundage
Erosa vs. Padilla
De Lima vs. Cortes-Acosta
Quinlan vs. Waters
The Prelims