Preview: UFC Fight Night 195 ‘Ladd vs. Dumont’

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Middleweights

NR | Julian Marquez (9-2, 3-1 UFC) vs. NR | Jordan Wright (12-1, 2-1 UFC)

ODDS: Marquez (-235), Wright (+195)

As is true of most Marquez fights, this should result in some dumb fun. “The Cuban Missile Crisis” was one of the standouts from the first year of Dana White’s Contender Series, as he scored a brutal head kick knockout of Phil Hawes, then went immediately about establishing his action-hero credentials by winning a war against Darren Stewart in his UFC debut. The next three years were essentially a waste. Marquez got little done against the neutralizing style of Alessio Di Chirico in a split decision loss, then suffered a massive muscle tear that caused him to miss all of 2019 and 2020. Upon his return, Marquez looked like much the same fighter against Maki Pitolo, willing to eat damage and get taken down at will before eventually finding a third-round submission. Marquez did show some signs of progress in a subsequent bout against Sam Alvey; admittedly, “Smilin’ Sam” is about as gun-shy as any fighter in the UFC at this point, but Marquez picked his spots and was more careful than usual when it came to avoiding Alvey’s huge counters. Marquez will try to pull off the same trick against “The Beverly Hills Ninja.”

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A karate stylist out of Beverly Hills, California, it was a bit hard to take Wright seriously after his 2018 performance on DWCS. Serving as the first real opposition of Wright’s career, Anthony Hernandez quickly marched down and flattened him, raising some questions as to whether the Jackson-Wink MMA product could make his style work at any sort of effective level. After winning a fight on the regional scene, Wright got the late-notice UFC call during the coronavirus pandemic and has showed off some better form. There is still the risk that Wright can be taken off the rails against an aggressive opponent, but he has been able to blast his opponents with some brutal counters when things are clicking, as he did in his sprint of a win against Jamie Pickett in May. Marquez may not quickly run over Wright, but it feels like this fight will go his way sooner rather than later. He will get hit, but that will probably just trigger some exchanges where Marquez can lean on his elite durability to knock down Wright and finish him on the mat. The pick is Marquez via first-round submission.

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