Preview: UFC Fight Night 223 Prelims

Women's Bantamweights

Stephanie Egger (8-3) vs. Irina Alekseeva (4-1)

ODDS: Egger (-305), Alekseeva (+255)

This should at least be a fun fight as a bit of a mirror match. When Egger came to the UFC in 2020, the book on her was that she was a one-dimensional submission threat. She has mostly lived up to that scouting report in the years since, but that hasn't precluded her from finding some success in Octagon - Shanna Young, Jessica-Rose Clark and Ailin Perez all proved unable to avoid Egger's grappling and suffered as a result. Egger doesn't figure to make a run towards contendership anytime soon, but she could find her second winning streak in the UFC by beating fellow judoka Alekseeva. Nicknamed "Russian Ronda" thanks to her judo background and cosmetic similarities to the former bantamweight champ, Alekseeva comes to the UFC after a one-fight stint in Bellator that saw her pick up a decision win late in 2021. Alekseeva's still extremely unproven, having bounced around weight classes and mostly finding success through bullying athletically overmatched opposition, which lends itself to some intrigue about how she'll performance against someone with some physical parity. Either way, this could turn into an ugly grind as both women figure to try and out-grapple the other but may not have the advantage enough to earn an outright submission. Egger's at least proven she can beat someone at her own level, so she gets the nod here; the pick is Egger via decision.

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Buday vs. Collier
Durden vs. Johnson
Egger vs. Alekseeva
Kelleher vs. Newson
Cowan vs. Horth