Preview: UFC Fight Night 217 Prelims

Bantamweights

Javid Basharat (13-0) vs. Mateus Mendonca (10-0)
Odds: Basharat (-350), Mendonca (+290)

The matchmaking here is a bit odd, but credit Javid Basharat with putting his momentum on the line in a fight that's all risk with little reward. Born in Afghanistan and fighting out of London, "The Snow Leopard" earned a contract with a cathartic win on the Contender Series in 2021 before marking himself as a true prospect to watch in 2022. Basharat's style is offensively dynamic and borders on overconfident, and he headed into his UFC career with a lot of questions about how that would fare against a better level of competition; but Basharat outpaced Trevin Jones in a potentially tricky fight and impressed greatly with a decision win over Tony Gravely, building momentum as the fight went on. That figured to set Basharat up for one of many potential interesting fights against a fellow rising prospect, so it's a surprise to see him take a step back in profile against UFC newcomer Mateus Mendonca. Just 23 years old, Brazil's Mendonca looks like a talent that's sure to find some high-level success, it's just a question of "when" rather than "if." A dynamic finisher for most of his early career, some of Mendonca's most recent regional fights saw him pivot to a pressuring and grinding style that involved a lot of work in the clinch - but having proven he can put in three rounds of solid work, it was nice to see him return to his finishing ways with a 48-second knockout on the Contender Series last September. If this goes any length of time, Basharat's ability as an adaptive fighter and Mendonca's tendency to flag a bit should combine for a Basharat win - but Basharat is clearly at risk of suffering a knockout in the early going. It's a bit of a flier, but the bet is that Mendonca is the right combination of athletic, powerful and long enough to take early advantage of Basharat's swagger; the pick is Mendonca via first-round knockout.

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