Back to prospect-testing duty for Brian
Kelleher. Kelleher's had an interesting UFC career thus far, as
he can be an inconsistent fighter; his first two UFC fights
essentially told the story, as he debuted with a quick upset
submission over Iuri
Alcantara, only to turn around and suffer the same fate in a
loss to Marlon Vera.
The Long Islander was essentially a finished product upon making it
to the UFC after a successful regional career; he's consistently
dangerous but prone to cold starts, leading to a kill-or-be-killed
approach that rarely saw Kelleher make it to the final horn - at
least until he started pivoting to a wrestling-heavy approach in
his last few wins. Kelleher's carved out an odd niche for himself,
often racking up wins over the fringes of the UFC roster until
suddenly getting a step up to an elite prospect or a fringe
contender, at which point "Boom" loses and gets knocked all the way
back down the bantamweight ladder. So in a way, after his March
loss to Umar
Nurmagomedov, it's nice to see him get a more difficult test in
his attempt to rebound here against Mario
Bautista. Bautista is an entertaining scrapper who, like many
before him, is learning to weave some better defense into his game
in order to hang at the UFC level. Cory
Sandhagen was a ridiculously tough first test upon his
late-notice signing, but Bautista has been slowly improving since,
looking particularly impressive in his last outing; after giving up
a sudden knockout to Trevin
Jones last year, Bautista put in a much more measured and
complete performance against Jay Perrin in
February. If Bautista can look that consistent over 15 minutes
here, this could be a breakout win - though the bet is that a
veteran like Kelleher, between his craft and a surprising amount of
power, can find enough defensive holes that still exist in
Bautista's game to separate himself on the scorecards, if not find
a finish outright. This should be a fun one; the pick is Kelleher
via decision.
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