Preview: UFC Fight Night ‘Almeida vs. Garbrandt’

The future — and perhaps the present — of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s bantamweight division will be on display, as Thomas Almeida faces Cody Garbrandt in the UFC Fight Night “Almeida vs. Garbrandt” main event on Sunday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. In the co-headliner, former bantamweight champion Renan Barao climbs to 145 pounds to confront Jeremy Stephens. The rest of the six-fight main card features a middleweight battle matching Vitor Miranda with Chris Camozzi, a lightweight scrap pitting Joshua Burkman against Paul Felder and a pair of welterweight bouts, as Tarec Saffiedine meets Rick Story and Jorge Masvidal takes on Lorenz Larkin. Let us take a closer look at each UFC Fight Night “Almeida vs. Garbrandt” matchup, with analysis and picks:BantamweightsThomas Almeida (21-0) vs Cody Garbrandt (8-0) THE MATCHUP: Ah . . . do you smell that? The scent of violence is on the wind, and Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt are to blame. Between, them, these two 24 year-olds have a near 90 percent finishing ratio. Garbrandt has knocked out all but one of his opponents, the very tough Henry Briones, while Almeida has finished 16 of his 21 opponents in the first round. That quick finishing tendency has proven problematic for “Tominhas,” as he ran into the left hook of fellow gunslinger Brad Pickett nearly a dozen times in the first round of their July 2015 clash, and suffered two knockdowns as the result of his recklessness. The problem was Almeida’s willingness to mix it up inside and commit to combinations early in the bout, something he has done throughout his career. He pressed for openings rather than sussing them out, and nearly paid a dear price. As the fight wore on, however, Almeida settled down, fought more …

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