Vanderford looks to keep making up for lost time. Best known for
his marriage to Paige
VanZant, Vanderford impressed on the Contender Series in 2018
but was surprisingly passed over for a contract. Vanderford landed
in Bellator shortly thereafter, leaning on his wrestling and
grappling to rise to title contention, facing Gegard
Mousasi for the promotion’s middleweight championship in 2022.
That’s where things started to go south, as both Mousasi and
follow-up opponent Aaron
Jeffery showed Vanderford to have a questionable chin. However,
he took some time off and then hit the ground running, earning a
win on the regional scene before taking down and tapping out
Nikolay
Veretennikov in a late-notice UFC debut in February. For his
sophomore UFC effort, Vanderford takes on Brahimaj, who’s finally
riding the first winning streak of his UFC career. Primarily a
wrestler and grappler, Brahimaj has had a fairly snakebit UFC
campaign. Since signing on for the Contender Series in 2019,
Brahimaj has had career-threatening eye and spinal surgeries along
with nearly losing his ear in his UFC debut. A November knockout of
Mickey
Gall showed that Brahimaj does have some pop in his hands, but
his fights have mostly come down to whether or not he can
outwrestle his opponent. If he can, it usually makes for a quick
submission win, but otherwise, he finds himself stalled out.
Vanderford should be able to win a wrestling-focused fight, even if
the threat of a knockout looms. The pick is Vanderford via
decision.
UFC News & Features
