Preview: UFC Perth Prelims

Lightweights

Jamie Mullarkey (17-8) vs. Rolando Bedoya (14-4)

Odds: Mullarkey (-110); Bedoya (-110)

A pair of reeling lightweights will endeavor to right the ship when Mullarkey, loser of two straight, squares off against Bedoya, who is still looking for his first UFC win after three unsuccessful attempts.

Mullarkey has been a fun addition to the division, but the fun may be coming to an end. Neither particularly large nor athletic for a UFC lightweight, he has carved out a respectable 5-6 run with high volume, technically solid boxing, but mostly with durability and the intangibles: brains, heart and guts. He is exactly the kind of scrappy overachiever I really enjoy—see his wins over Michael Johnson and Devonte Smith, or even his performance in a loss to Brad Riddell—but the fun may be coming to an end. Where other fighters from that mold, like Darren Elkins or Damon Jackson, have wrestling and a grinder’s mindset in their back pocket, Mullarkey is much better as a striker.

That means he has always had a harder needle to thread, as Mullarkey must withstand, or at least survive, the offense of bigger, hard-hitting strikers, then try and take over on the feet when they start to flag. For that reason, Mullarkey’s success depends heavily on durability, and in consecutive first-round knockout losses to Nasrat Haqparast and Mauricio Ruffy, his approach appears finally to have hit the wall—at least against a Top 15 and Top 5 fighter who are both very hard punchers. Whether Mullarkey is already fading at 31 or simply ran into two more talented fighters who were terrible stylistic matchups is something we stand to learn on Saturday, but it’s worth noting that he’s currently a pick ‘em against a fighter who is winless in the UFC.

Bedoya is a much more straightforward fighter to scout. He knows exactly what he wants to do, and generally goes out to do it, but just isn’t quite good enough to make it work against UFC welterweights or lightweights. Very much in the mold of fighters who have emerged from Peru over the past decade or so, “The Machine” is a very aggressive striker with good power but all the defensive liabilities you might expect. He is similar on the ground: better as an offensive than defensive wrestler, but his actual jiu-jitsu is more measured and technically sound, relatively speaking. He has not been finished in any of his three UFC appearances, but nonetheless, Bedoya’s struggles can all be traced to hittability and durability. Even Kenan Song, a lower-level UFC welterweight not known for his power, dropped Bedoya and hurt him several times.

This is a pick ‘em fight and rightfully so. Bedoya might have the perfect foil to finally pick up that elusive first win in the Octagon, but Mullarkey could just as easily show that he is still a tough out for any lightweight short of the Haqparast/Ruffy level. The pick is that the former case proves to be true, and Bedoya swangs n’ bangs his way to a second-round TKO win, getting his hand raised in an RAC Arena that’s either hostile or dead quiet.



Jump To »
Stirling vs. Bellato
Lookboonmee vs. Thainara
Micallef vs. Elliott
Rowston vs. Petroski
Thicknesse vs. Musasa
Mullarkey vs. Bedoya
Montague vs. Carolina
Pericic vs. Ellison