UFC on ESPN+ 59: Parker Porter vs Alan Baudot - Prediction - 2/19/22
Parker Porter vs Alan Baudot
Parker Porter (11-6) went 9-5 on the regional scene to get a call to the world’s premiere fighting organization. His debut would be spoiled by Kyle Daukaus (who’s brother Chris is on this card) as Porter would end up on the receiving end of a TKO defeat. Porter would bounce back however, taking wide unanimous decision victories over Josh Parisian and Chase Sherman, respectively. He will look to make it three in a row against Alan Baudot this Saturday.
Alan Baudot (8-2 w/ 1 NC) went 8-1 on the regional fight scene to get the call to the UFC. Similar to his opponent, he would get a tough debut against divisional prospect, Tom Aspinall. Ground and pound defeat was the verdict for that one and unfortunately his follow-up effort would not be much better. After a very successful first round in his most recent fight against Rodrigo Nascimento, “The Black Samurai” would end up a victim to a comeback from the Brazilian, suffering a TKO defeat in the second stanza. A small consolation would follow as that fight would get overturned to a no contest when Nascimento popped for a banned substance. Nevertheless, the Frenchman is still looking for his first UFC victory.
Working in his favour will be a 3 inch height and 4 inch reach advantage over Porter. Although Porter usually clocks in at the maximum heavyweight limit, so there could be as much as a 20 pound difference come fight night going against Baudot.
How They Match Up
You’ve probably heard how just being tough with a good chin is enough to have success in the heavyweight division. Well that is Parker Porter. Despite being only 6 feet tall, he will march forward and alternate lefts and rights without any real regard for what his opponent does. He will also throw in some takedown attempts and if he manages to get them, you can count on him stealing the round with half guard top control. As the fight goes on, he may slow down but there’s a better chance that his opponent will slow down even more as he continues to pile up the significant strike count.
Baudot prefers to move around and leap in with sporadic bursts of offense. He is quite fast with his hands and very light on his feet. He doesn’t offer much in the way of a kicking game (he has the ability to do so but opts to use his hands more) so this one should pan out as your standard heavyweight boxing match as Porter isn’t firing up any high kicks either.
I fully expect Baudot to jump out to a lead in the first couple minutes as he will hold a nice speed advantage. But man did he ever fold against Nascimento when Nascimento just refused to go away. It really feels like Porter will duplicate that path as well. If Porter can get the fight to the ground then that will be an even easier win. I’m not convinced that will happen since Baudot largely defended Nascimento’s attempts but the fact that Porter disengages when the takedown isn’t there should also work in his favor. Reason being, Baudot racked up a lot of head strikes when Nascimento fruitlessly tried to get the fight to the ground. With Porter, he won’t hang around attached to legs for too long which will keep him out of the way of Baudot’s elbows, but still tire out both fighters. And it’s in that state where Porter will have more success. I'll take Porter to get the decision win.