Preview: UFC Fight Night 245 ‘Hernandez vs. Pereira’

Bantamweights
Rob Font (20-8) vs. Kyler Phillips (12-2)
Odds: Phillips (-425), Font (+330)

This should be a fun one, on top of proving that the winner is still a viable potential contender in a deep bantamweight division. Rob Font's in a frustrating spot at the moment, as he still clearly seems to be a top-ten bantamweight but has had little success against a recent slate of tough competition. Font had a few bumps along the road towards achieving relevance, first due to injuries and then his own issues inside of the cage; Font would have showings where he looked both technically proficient and devastatingly powerful with his offensive weapons, but would then cede ground and look much less effective against higher-level opponents willing to just march forward and try to pour things on. It wasn't until a 2019 win over Ricky Simon that Font finally found his comfort under pressure, and that eventually led to a run that got Font into some main event fights, which is where he ran into problems against the bantamweight elite. It's hard to say Font has done many things wrong, but even as he racked up effective offense against the likes of Jose Aldo, Marlon Vera and Deiveson Figueiredo, those opponents were powerful enough athletes that they could offset all of Font's hard work with one or two big moments of offense, winning rounds and showing Font that he has a clear athletic ceiling. But while Font might not be able to hang shot for shot with the hardest hitters in the division, his lone win in his last five fights - a 2023 knockout of Adrian Yanez - showed that trying to out-punch Font is still something that a majority of 135-pounders can't pull off. Nearly a year removed from the Figueiredo loss, Font returns to take on Kyler Phillips in a fascinating matchup. Phillips has been a prospect to watch ever since he landed in the UFC in 2019, mostly owing to his athleticism; "The Matrix" is one of the speedier athletes in the division, using his athletic gifts to try and beat his opponents to the literal punch. Phillips mostly coasted on those gifts until he suddenly got thrown into the fire against Song Yadong in 2021, which made it a pleasant surprise when he pulled off the huge upset, fighting the most focused fight of his career and staying out of trouble while picking apart the much slower-footed Song. Of course, all of those good vibes went out the window when Phillips indulged in all of his worst habits in a follow-up loss to Raulian Paiva; Phillips thankfully has won all of his fights since, but he also hasn't entirely recaptured the form he showed in the Song fight, splitting the difference with performances that are enough to get past some top competition but are still far from efficient. That might still be enough to get past Font here, and this matchup might be more of a referendum on where Font is in his late-thirties than anything else; if there's been any slippage on the Font end this could turn into a definitive Phillips win, but the bet is that the veteran has enough in the tank to get by with his usual mix of sound fundamentals. The pick is Font via decision.

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Hernandez vs. Pereira
Font vs. Phillips
Johnson vs. Sumudaerji
Smotherman vs. Hadley
Elkins vs. Pineda
The Prelims