UFC Fight Night, May 8th 2021

M. Rodriguez (-210) Vs M. Waterson $$$

This fight should be a mismatch as Waterson moves up in weight classes to take on the a bigger opponent. Rodriguez will have a sizeable height, reach, and strength advantage in this matchup. She will be looking to exploit this advantage by keeping her opponent outside and coming in with power shots or getting into a Thai clinches. I expect she will do so easily while avoiding the quick kick from her opponent.

I don’t believe Waterson has the power to Finnish this fight and it will be extremely difficult for he to win a kick boxing match against someone with such a big reach advantage. The only path to victory I see for her is using her judo skills to get her opponent to the ground and managing to keep her there. But I think her Brazilian opponent is too strong for this and should be able to return to the feet even if she is taken down. I hate to see the Karate Hottie’s face get beaten up, but I think her best case scenario is a UD loss.

A. Morono (+150) Vs D. Cerrone $$

This will be Cowboy’s 54th career professional fight and he is always entertaining. Amazing as that is, he doesn’t have a victory in over two years, losing four of his last five with a draw. Try to imagine for a moment how much punishment this man has taken in the ring over his career. A single man can only take so many shots in a lifetime and I fear Cowboy’s time is almost done. He certainly will not be fighting for a belt ever again so at this point in his career he is just finishing out a contract. In his last couple fights his foot work hasn’t been as fast and his punches not as crisp as we are used to seeing from him. He always has a good chin and big heart, so I would never count him out, but I think this line is too big for him.

Morono honestly didn’t look good in his last fight, but he is still the younger and more motivated man here. He at least has a punchers chance and could even win a decision if he is active enough with his punches. Alex does have 6 submission victories also so that is also a threat. I would put this match close to a pick’em, so I’ll take the +150 on the underdog.