Preview: UFC Fight Night 208 Prelims

Featherweights

Makwan Amirkhani (17-7 | 7-5 UFC) vs. Jonathan Pearce (12-4 | 1-3 UFC)

Odds: Pearce (-200), Amirkhani (+170)

Makwan Amirkhani had an electric UFC debut back in 2015, knocking out Andy Ogle with a flying knee in just eight seconds, and while that was a bit of false advertising - Amirkhani's always been at his best as a wrestler and grappler - "Mr. Finland" looked to have the talent and charisma to be a future star. That held true for a while as Amirkhani worked his way up the ranks, but when he hit a plateau, he hit it hard; Amirkhani's efforts to focus on his striking didn't produce much in the way of effective results, and at a certain point his cardio began to absolutely betray him past the first round. A recent run of losses to Edson Barboza, Kamuel Kirk and Lerone Murphy each saw Amirkhani squander some hot starts, which made it a bit of a surprise that he was still brought back for a March bout against Mike Grundy - but Amirkhani made good on what was likely his last chance with a 57-second submission win. Amirkhani looks to get a win streak going here against Jonathan Pearce, who's done well to rebound from, frankly, a terrible UFC debut back in 2019. That fight saw a seemingly past-his-prime Joe Lauzon run through Pearce, but "JSP" has looked much better after a subsequent move down to featherweight, which has allowed him to leverage a consistent size advantage. Pearce is from the school of favoring pressure and offense over defense and relying on his durability, which figures to hit a clear wall at some point, but that point hasn't come at 145 pounds yet, as he's able to swamp and outlast Kai Kamaka, Omar Morales and Christian Rodriguez to put together his current three-fight winning streak. This is a much trickier proposition, however, particularly since Pearce tends to find his way towards clinch and wrestling exchanges with his opponents, which should lead him directly into the best part of Amirkhani's game. Pearce is the type of opponent that can wear Amirkhani out and turn this into a blowout by the later rounds, but Amirkhani looks to be the much more potent fighter during the first round that should decide this fight; the pick is Amirkhani via first-round submission.

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