We’re into the second half of UFC Fight Island and the third card of the event, UFC Fight Island 2, takes places on Saturday with a main event to determine a champion for the flyweight division. Elsewhere we have ranked fighters looking to climb further up the ranks and some others who are looking to get a number next to their name. In this piece, I’ll be looking at 4 of the 7 prelim fights on the card.
Carlos Felipe vs Serghei Spivac – Heavyweight Bout
Heavyweights get the action underway on the prelims as Serghei Spivac takes on Carlos Felipe. Spivac hasn’t had the best of starts to his UFC career, boasting a 1-2 record, however, when you take a look at who he’s fought, you could say the matchmakers haven’t been too fair on him. He lost against Walt Harris in his debut, then beat promising prospect Tai Tuivasa to then lose against Marcin Tybura back in February. With 6 submission wins to his name, Spivac will be comfortable if the fight goes to the ground, no matter if he’s in dominant position or not.
Carlos Felipe is an unbeaten prospect making his debut in the UFC in this fight. Carlos comes with an impressive 8-0 record, 6 wins by KO/TKO, and will be looking to make his name on the prelims here against Spivac. Felipe has a really good striking game, where he varies what he throws and to what level he throws at, constantly keeping his opponent guessing. Whether he can deal with Spivac’s ground game will be the major question here, but if it’s on the feet, he has a great chance.
A lot of newcomers have impressed fans over the course of the Fight Island event and it wouldn’t be too surprising if Felipe turned out to be the next one on the list, however, Spivac also has a bright future ahead of him and he’s fought some tough heavyweights in his short UFC career so I’m giving him the nod ahead of this one.
Davi Ramos vs Arman Tsarukyan – Lightweight Bout
Lightweights are the ones to fight next as two promising prospects face each other in Davi Ramos and Arman Tsarukyan. Ramos is a Jiu-Jitsu specialist who loves taking guys down and forcing them to tap. He made his UFC debut back in 2017 and currently boasts a 4-2 record, losing his most recent fight to Islam Makhachev, which is nothing to be embarrassed about. Davi looks to be a real deal so far and if he gets another submission win, you have to remember his name for the future.
Arman Tsarukyan has been in the UFC since April of 2019 when he lost to Islam Makhachev, however, he really impressed in his last bout against highly thought of prospect Olivier Aubin-Mercier and won that via decision. Tsarukyan is another well-rounded fighter, who’s pretty confident on the ground and will happily take Ramos there and try to force him to tap.
Both guys have impressed at points in the UFC and it’ll be a really interesting and technical fight to watch, however, I’m going with the younger man and that Arman Tsarukyan. I think he has a higher skill level than Ramos in most things and I think he will out power him on the ground.
Malcolm Gordon vs Amir Albazi – Flyweight Bout
Flyweights are up next on the prelims and this is a fight that sees two newcomers to the UFC make their debut in the octagon. Malcolm Gordon has impressed outside of the UFC for some time, showing some great submission and groundwork, whilst also looking decent on the feet. However, he’s lost 3 times in his career, all via TKO and there’s a question over his chin and whether he can take as much damage as most.
Amir Albazi is another fighter who has impressed over his career at various other promotions outside of the UFC. Albazi has a 12-1 record during his career and has impressed with some really nice submission wins, whilst also knocking some of his opponents out. Albazi will be looking to pressure Gordon and see if he has the better striking game, before taking it to the ground.
Both of these guys are interesting additions to the flyweight division and it’ll be interesting to see if the UFC has unearthed some gems or not with these in the future. For now, I’m going to go with Albazi, he looks the bigger of the two at 125 and I feel he may have more power on the ground over Gordon. Either way, this will be a fun fight to watch if the majority of it is spent on the ground.
Brett Johns vs Montel Jackson – Bantamweight Bout
Bantamweights are up next and this is a fight I’m really excited for as it sees one of my favorite guys coming out of the UK, Brett Johns take on promising prospect Montel Jackson. Brett Johns is everything you want from a fighter from the UK, he’s seriously tough and never stops fighting from the first bell to the last. He was set for big things when he came into the UFC, but the matchmakers threw him in at the deep end and he lost back to back to Aljamian Sterling and Pedro Munhoz. Johns enjoys taking the fight to the floor, but he also loves a fight on the feet.
Montel Jackson has been very impressive in the UFC so far as he’s on a 3-fight win streak, including a submission win over Brian Kelleher. Montel, in his fights outside of the UFC, enjoyed keeping the fight on the feet and beating his opponent via KO/TKO, however, since joining the UFC he’s shown some decent ground game, but I do think Jackson will want to keep this on the feet.
This fight is a close one, between two prospects that have bright futures in the UFC, and I’d love to say Johns takes this one but he’s 3 inches smaller than Jackson and that plays into Jackson’s hands so much more than John’s.
Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
