Originally slated to face off in July, the middleweight pairing between Phil Hawes and Deron Winn was kept intact after being delayed, and now the collegiate wrestlers turned mixed martial artists will finally share the Octagon together this weekend.
Hawes is on a roll, entering this one having won seven straight, including each of his first three UFC appearances over the previous 12 months. After edging out the talented Nassourdine Imavov in February, “Megatron” out-worked Kyle Daukaus in May, bringing his record to 11-2 overall and moving him another step closer to cracking the middleweight Top 15.
Winn snapped a little two-fight skid to close out last year, using a takedown-heavy approach to collect a unanimous decision victory over Antonio Arroyo to bring his UFC record level at 2-2 and push his overall record to 7-2. Short for the division, but not lacking in strength, the compact American Kickboxing Academy representative is eager to string together a few wins and make a move up the divisional ladder himself, and he would love nothing more than that begin that journey by halting Hawes’ run of success.
Will Hawes continue stacking victories and take another step forward in the 185-pound weight class or can Winn collect a second straight victory and claim a little of his opponent’s momentum for himself?
CHRIS GUTIERREZ VS. FELIPE COLARES
Bantamweights looking to break through in the talent-rich division meet in this preliminary card pairing as Chris Gutierrez takes on Felipe Colares.
Since dropping his promotional debut to Raoni Barcelos on November 30, 2018, Gutierrez has put together a 4-0-1 record, including victories over Vince Morales and Andre Ewell. The 30-year-old Factory X Muay Thai representative works with a great crew, has hellacious kicks, and just a single defeat in his last 10 fights, entering Saturday’s contest in the best form of his career and eager to take another step forward in the ultra-competitive 135-pound weight class.
Athlete Profiles: Gutierrez | Colares
Colares survived a rough first round to rally and earn a decision win over Luke Sanders last time out, bringing his UFC record to 2-2 in the process. The 27-year-old has good size for the division and is still putting the pieces of his game together, which is part of why he’s been inconsistent thus far inside the Octagon. But with plenty of time to prepare for this one and coming off a gutsy performance last time out, don’t be surprised if we see the best version of “Cabocao” yet on Saturday.
Advancing in the bantamweight division is difficult at the moment, as the weight class has never been deeper or stocked with more talented fighters. Now, more than ever, each win is critical and each loss can set you back a couple of steps, so expect both Gutierrez and Colares to come out aggressively, looking to secure an impressive victory and take another step forward in their respective quests to crack the Top 15.
JAMIE PICKETT VS. LAUREANO STAROPOLI
Middleweights looking to snap out of a slide collide in this one as Contender Series graduate Jamie Pickett takes on Argentina’s Laureano Staropoli on Saturday’s prelims.
Pickett finally punched his ticket to the UFC with a victory in his third appearance on the Contender Series last summer, stopping Jhonoven Pati in the second round. But after dropping a decision to Tafon Nchukwi in his debut, “The Night Wolf” got ran over by Jordan Wright last time out, sending him into this matchup with Staropoli hoping to replicate his “third time’s the charm” result from last summer.
The 28-year-old Staropoli has dropped three straight across two divisions, losing decisions to Muslim Salikhov and Tim Means at welterweight and missing weight in the latter of the two before relocating to middleweight and suffering a similar fate opposite Roman Dolidze back in June. The bout with Dolidze was largely uneventful, with the two combining to land 23 significant strikes over 15 minutes, and the Georgian Dolidze content to grind out control time on the ground.
