Preview: UFC Fight Night 244 ‘Royval vs. Taira’

Middleweights

Abdul Razak Alhassan (12-6, 6-6 UFC) vs. Josh Fremd (11-6, 2-4 UFC)

ODDS: Alhassan (-162), Fremd (+136)

Like most Alhassan fights, this has a clear potential for violence. A judoka by background, Alhassan came to the UFC about a decade ago as a pure one-round fighter, hunting for the quick knockout—and often succeeding in finding it—with little sense for any sort of energy management or a backup plan. That made for a pretty clear split for most of Alhassan’s career, with him either winning within minutes or losing an ugly decision. In recent years, he has at least found some other ideas. Alhassan’s best weapon is still his knockout power, but he has learned to pace himself and even wrestle a bit, mostly as a way to manage time and pick his spots while carrying his power into multiple rounds. Even with those progressions, Alhassan’s last fight against Cody Brundage in July was a throwback for the 37 seconds it lasted, as he seemingly had the knockout in hand after some wild strikes before it was ruled that some were illegally to the back of the head, ending the bout in a no contest. Alhassan looks to get back in the win column against Fremd, who lost to Andre Petroski on that same card—part of a UFC career that has seen him settle in as a middle-of-the-road middleweight.

Fremd is massive for the division and surprisingly well-rounded, but that size comes with some clear drawbacks. He’s also one of the slowest fighters in the division, forcing him to outlast rather than surprise his opponents and usually eat a lot of offense in the process. Fremd has grimed it up against limited athletes before and could find some success making this ugly down the stretch, but it’s far from a safe bet that he can survive that far against someone with the horsepower and occasional recklessness that Alhassan provides. The pick is Alhassan via first-round knockout.

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Royval vs. Taira
Park vs. Tavares
Dawson vs. Garcia
Polastri vs. McKenna
Rodriguez vs. Morono
Alhassan vs. Fremd
The Prelims