UFC on ESPN+ 52: Dern vs Rodriguez - Card Preview - 10/09/21
All the fights I thought would be fire on the last card ended up being sleepers, while the low-tier bouts delivered finishes all over the undercard. I'm hoping that trend continues for this one cause this card is pretty weak on paper. Not completely void of intrigue but I'm happy they capped this off at 9 fights as of this writing. (Hawes vs Winn is off and so is Hawes vs Curtis)
The main event showcases top 5ish women's strawweights as MacKenzie Dern (5th) takes on Marina Rodriguez (6th). Dern is on a four fight winning streak which saw her rattle off 3 submission finishes during that span. Rodriguez has been getting some main card love as of late as well, finishing Amanda Ribas on a PPV and defeating Michelle Waterson in the headlining spot last time out. This should be a pretty typical grappler vs striker match really with both ladies capable of exploiting the other's weaknesses.
The co main looks to be a fun one but I better not jinx it and dive into each fighters' KO history like I did for last week's main event. Tim Elliot also returns with his janky style and high output. On the undercard, I'm looking forward to Alexander Romanov returning to see if he can pull off another one of his ridiculous forearm chokes in a heavyweight affair.
Check the rest of the lineup below.
Main Card
Mackenzie Dern vs. Marina Rodriguez
Randy Brown vs. Jared Gooden
Tim Elliott vs. Matheus Nicolau
Sabina Mazo vs. Mariya Agapova
Preliminary Card
Chris Gutiérrez vs. Felipe Colares
Alexander Romanov vs. Jared Vanderaa
Charles Rosa vs. Damon Jackson
Lupita Godinez vs.Silvana Gomez Juarez
Steve Garcia vs. Charlie Ontiveros