Preview: Noche UFC ‘Lopes vs. Silva’

Men’s Bantamweights

Santiago Luna (6-0) vs. Quang Le (9-2)

Odds: Luna (-125); Le (+105)

Luna and Le meet in the main card opener despite both having started out as replacement foes for different fighters. Sometimes you want to groan when the UFC bends over backwards to keep bouts on a 14-fight card, but anything that gets the fighters paid is a good thing, and this is a quietly fantastic matchup, so we’ll allow it.

Making his debut just six fights into his professional career, the 21-year-old Luna is all potential at this point, but that potential is impressive. He is a big bantamweight—in fact, he will be cutting back down from 145 pounds for the first time in several fights—with fluid athleticism and good instincts. He has looked completely overwhelming so far, throwing big punches in the pocket as he looks for opportunities to change levels. He finishes takedowns with a bang, often landing in side control before taking the back in a flash.

Whether he will be able to keep that up against Le is an open question. Already 33, “Bang” is the polar opposite, a late starter and late bloomer in the sport who seems doomed to scrap and scrape for every bit of recognition. Chris Gutierrez was a huge ask in his UFC debut, but Le looked outstanding in his second-round finish of Gaston Bolanos in May. Le is a decently sized bantamweight himself, and a disciplined pocket boxer with some power who also does some of his best work on the ground.

The big question here is whether the enormous leap in competition will be too much for Luna, who otherwise appears to have far greater upside as the bigger, more athletic and much younger fighter. If this fight were taking place a year or two from now—even if it were still Luna’s UFC debut—it might be an easy call for the youngster, but the prediction here is that Le’s own growing pains over the last year will pay dividends. The pick is Le by decision in a fun, competitive fight where Luna shows some flashes of scary potential.



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Lopes vs. Silva
Font vs. Martinez
Garcia vs. Gordon
Gastelum vs. Stoltzfus
Luna vs. Le
The Prelims