Preview: UFC 262 Prelims

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Featherweights

NR | Tucker Lutz (11-1, 0-0 UFC) vs. NR | Kevin Aguilar (17-4, 2-3 UFC)

ODDS: Lutz (-120), Aguilar (+100)

It has been a tale of two UFC careers thus far for Aguilar. He was a wildly successful regional fighter, but there was some concern about how his style would translate up a level. His rugged and counter-heavy approach meant that “The Angel of Death” rarely won cleanly, and he figured to suffer against better and craftier hitters. Everything went just about perfectly in Aguilar’s first two UFC bouts, as he was able to dictate the terms of his fights against Rick Glenn and Enrique Barzola to walk away with two impressive wins. However, things have not been quite as sanguine in the three fights since. Dan Ige managed to match Aguilar and take over their fight, while Zubaira Tukhugov’s athleticism and power allowed him to blast Texan for a knockout before he had a chance to counter. After that, Charles Rosa was mostly able to frustrate Aguilar with an evasive low-power style that did not give the Texan much to work with in terms of those counters. As a result, Aguilar could definitely use a win here against a UFC newcomer in Lutz. Baltimore’s Lutz earned a contract via Dana White’s Contender Series, where he looked solid but unspectacular in earning two decision wins. There is a lot to like about Lutz’s game, as he can bring effective offense in a few different phases, but his finishing ability has dried up against stronger competition and he does not have much in the way of built-in defense. He should be able to earn some wins on the UFC roster against more one-dimensional prospects, but he looks set to march ahead into Aguilar’s preferred style of fight here. This should be entertaining, but the pick is for Aguilar to take the clear decision.

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