It’s the man with the most appearances in UFC history against a promotional newcomer in the rugged lightweight division, as Jim Miller welcomes Erick “Ghost Pepper” Gonzalez to the Octagon.
This is Jim Miller’s 50th professional fight, the last 37 of which have come under the UFC banner, which is an incredible sentence to write. The New Jersey native has been a permanent presence in the 155-pound weight class for more than 4,700 days — a dozen years less a couple days — facing damn-near everyone that passed through the division at one point or another. While he’s not a contender at the moment, he’s still a game, respected veteran and a handful for hopefuls and fellow veterans alike.
The 29-year-old Gonzalez steps in having earned a pair of victories already this year and four wins in his last five fights. His two most recent losses came against UFC vets Rafa Garcia and Humberto Bandenay, with each fight going the distance towards the tail end of his hyper-active, six-fight 2019 campaign.
Will the frisky veteran get back into the win column in his 38th promotional appearance or can Gonzalez waltz in and secure his first victory by toppling one of the eight fighters in promotional history to earn 20 or more wins inside the Octagon?
ANDREW SANCHEZ VS. BRUNO SILVA
Middleweights Andrew Sanchez and Bruno Silva meet in this main card pairing where the former looks to get back into the win column, while the latter aims to collect a second straight UFC victory.
Since winning the light heavyweight competition on Season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter, Sanchez has gone 4-4 inside the Octagon, never winning or losing more than two straight, while frequently engaging in competitive, entertaining scraps. Last time out, “El Dirte” battled Makhmud Muradov at UFC 257 on Fight Island, pushing “Mach” for more than a dozen minutes before getting clipped and finished a tick before the three-minute mark of the third round.
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Silva ended a two-and-a-half-year absence in June, making his promotional debut opposite fellow Brazilian Wellington Turman. After a sluggish start, “Blindado” rallied in the second half of the opening round, putting away Turman with ferocious ground-and-pound late in the frame to extend his stretched out winning streak to five.
Sanchez has started to let his hands go and mix things up on the feet a lot more lately, but he might want to get back to his grappling roots here, as Silva is a power hitter with five straight finishes and nine stoppage victories in his last 11 wins. Whomever dictates the terms of engagement is likely to get their hand raised, and watching that chess match play out on Saturday night is going to be thoroughly entertaining.
MANON FIOROT VS. MAYRA BUENO SILVA
