Preview: UFC Vegas 101 ‘Dern vs. Ribas 2’

Middleweights

Cesar Almeida (6-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan (12-6, 6-6 UFC)

ODDS: Almeida (-298), Alhassan (+240)

This figures to wind up as an entertaining matchup, but even if it fails in that regard, it’s a solid chance for Alhassan to move on from a lost 2024. Alhassan came to the UFC in late 2016, and the first few years of his career told a pretty simple story. Despite his background in judo, his fights came down to his ability to smoke his opponents within a round, as he would otherwise run out of gas and potentially get outwrestled. It took about half a decade, but “Judo Thunder” eventually developed a more balanced approach, adding a bit of offensive wrestling himself. It’s not really a winning game plan in and of itself, but rounding out his game has allowed Alhassan to better pick his spots, manage his gas tank and carry his knockout power into multiple rounds. Alhassan headed into 2024 looking to rebound from a tough loss to Joe Pyfer, but the year was mostly a waste. A fight against Cody Brundage ended in a no contest after just 37 seconds, and a pairing against Josh Fremd fell through after Fremd botched his weight cut. Alhassan looks to get 2025 going on a better foot against Brazil’s Almeida, who seems to be settling in as a solid middleweight entrant.

Expectations were a bit higher for Almeida a year ago, as he had just earned a contract on the Contender Series and looked sharp in the process. The hope was that the Brazilian could be the UFC’s next success story to quickly transition from high-level kickboxing to contention in the promotion’s middleweight division. Those hopes were seemingly dashed with a loss to Roman Kopylov in June. Almeida has done a decent job of picking up some wrestling skills, but it appears he might just have gotten off to too late of a start now that he’s entering his late 30s, particularly without the level of explosive firepower that eventual champions like Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira possess. Almeida could do some solid work in this assignment, but Alhassan’s durability has been his ace in the hole over the course of his career; he has only been knocked out once in a campaign that has featured a lot of hard hitters. Given that Almeida’s no wrestler, he might just give Alhassan enough time and space to pick his spots and embrace the grind as needed to control what could be an ugly fight. The pick is Alhassan via decision.

Jump To »
Dern vs. Ribas
Ponzinibbio vs. Harris
Almeida vs. Alhassan
Kopylov vs. Curtis
Bashi vs. Rodriguez
Medic vs. Soriano
The Prelims