Preview: UFC 281 Prelims

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Featherweights

Seung Woo Choi (10-5, 3-4 UFC) vs. Michael Trizano (9-3, 3-3 UFC)

ODDS: Choi (-165), Trizano (+140)

This is a well-matched fight with some low-key banger potential. The winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 27” back in 2018, Trizano was well-rounded but unspectacular upon hitting the Octagon, making it a bit of a question as to how the “Lone Wolf” would fare in the UFC. Early returns were not great. His patient and counter-heavy style was enough to beat castmate Luis Pena in his first post-reality show fight, but a one-sided loss to Grant Dawson in 2019 drove home the risks of Trizano’s tendency to give his opponent the initiative. Then came a two-year injury layoff, which saw Trizano return as a much more aggressive fighter. Constantly moving forward against Ludovit Klein, Trizano managed to lean on his pace and durability to clearly win rounds and beat a hyped prospect. Things have mostly stalled out since. Hakeem Dawodu was a tough test and a bit of an expected loss, but a fun scrap in June against Lucas Almeida saw Trizano get both outpaced and knocked out, leaving the New Jersey native without much momentum. He will look to turn things around against South Korea’s Choi, who has taken a much different path to wind up in essentially the same spot at Trizano. A tall knockout artist, Choi’s pressure-heavy approach quickly ran into issues against the wrestling-heavy gameplans of Movsar Evloev and Gavin Tucker, both of whom were able to take him to the mat and neutralize “Sting” without much issue. Choi has improved his takedown defense in spots—that plus the threat of his knockout was enough to put together a three-fight winning streak that ended in 2021—but the end result is that he has tamped down that aggression. He can still absolutely crack given the right opportunity, but there are a lot of moments where an opponent can take Choi out of his game. For Alex Caceres, that was a sudden back take and submission victory, while a June fight against Joshua Culibao saw the Aussie surprisingly outmaneuver Choi for three rounds while also hitting the most effective offense of the fight. Trizano probably has more options, particularly if he decides to pursue his wrestling, but the bet is that these two are essentially going to plod forward and scrap. That makes this a coinflip. The pick is Choi via decision by virtue of his being the harder shot-for-shot hitter.

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