Preview: UFC Fight Night 243 Prelims

A decent slate of prelims accompanies the Ultimate Fighting Championship on its annual trip to Paris this Saturday at Accor Arena. Light heavyweights take center stage on the UFC Fight Night 243 undercard, where promotional newcomer Ivan Erslan gets a chance to make a statement against Ion Cutelaba in the featured spot and France’s Oumar Sy—the brightest prospect of the bunch—gets a tough test against Da Woon Jung. Beyond that, Ludovit Klein returns to action at 155 pounds, and a pair of bouts should help sort out the lower reaches of the women’s bantamweight rankings.

Now to the preview for the UFC Fight Night 243 prelims:

Light Heavyweights

Ion Cutelaba (17-10-1, 6-9-1 UFC) vs. Ivan Erslan (14-3, 0-0 UFC)

ODDS: Cutelaba (-122), Erslan (+105)

Will things ever truly click for Cutelaba? The Moldovan was just 22 years old when the UFC picked him up in 2016, and at the time, he seemed like a well-rounded talent who would find enough success to keep developing under the UFC banner. Cutelaba has certainly had his moments, but it’s a bit hard to be sanguine about how things have progressed for “The Hulk.” At some point, Cutelaba lost his ability to control his aggression, turning most of his fights into a race towards a finish. Cutelaba would storm out of the gates and attempt to run over his opponents, either on the feet or through pounding them out on the mat, and either quickly succeed or careen off the rails trying to force things, eventually getting finished himself. The odd part is that every once in a blue moon, Cutelaba can pace himself enough to put together three solid rounds, though it’s unclear now if that’s enough to stay in the win column. He was able to outwrestle Devin Clark for three rounds in a 2021 win before a recent rough stretch, but Cutelaba checking himself in his last fight still resulted in a decision loss to Philipe Lins in March. Cutelaba could use an impressive showing against a UFC newcomer in Erslan, who’s a decent enough signing by the promotion. The Croatian’s game is limited enough that he’s unlikely to have any sort of championship upside, but he has had a successful career and brings enough knockout power to the table to cause problems in the light heavyweight division. Erslan’s a muscular athlete who purely looks to strike, which is a mixed bag. He can be a bit overly patient in picking his spots to strike, then tends to get wild when hunting for a finish once he actually springs into action. Still, he hits hard, and that’s often half the battle in these heavier weight classes. Cutelaba could make a lot of hay in this outing, particularly with his wrestling, but it’s hard to see him staying elusive and refusing to engage with Erslan; and if this is going to just devolve into a brawl, it’s difficult to give Cutelaba the benefit of the doubt at this point, especially against a hard hitter. The pick is Erslan via first-round knockout.

Jump To »
Cutelaba vs. Erslan
Sy vs. Jung
Klein vs. Roberts
Lapilus vs. Morales
Perez vs. Zheleznyakova
Altamirano vs. Barez
Cavalcanti vs. Cornolle
Oki vs. Duncan