This Saturday 155's newest and hottest prospect Jordan Vucenic goes up against another promising fighter in Guram Kutateladze. While the jury is still out on Guram at the moment, Vucenic is already arriving with much fanfare from U.K. fans. In this article we do a brief overview of the two men and their fight styles and try to predict who will emerge victorious.
VUCENIC
Vucenic arrives to the UFC on short notice from Cage Warriors, my current favorite feeder league to the UFC. With 5 of his 9 Cage Warriors wins coming by way of submission, it is safe to say Vucenic is an accomplished and aggressive grappler. When going for takedowns he seems to prefer backing up the opponent to the cage, pressing his head into them, dropping to a single or double leg takedown, securing the takedown, then transitioning to the dreaded Dagestani Handcuff. In this position Vucenic uses his legs to wrap around his opponent's legs thus trapping them and tying them up so they can't scoot up and try to get back to their feet or wall walk up the cage to reverse position. From there he then uses his arm to establish wrist control and take the arm away so it can't be used to push up and help his opponent get back to their feet. This leaves them with only one free arm left to fight the punches and subs of Vucenic leaving them at a severe disadvantage. Established in this position his opponents don't make it to round 3 with 1 of his 5 Cage Warriors subs coming in round 1 and the remaining 4 subs all in round 2. Vucenic brings the pressure fast and even the toughest fighters he's faced have been forced to tap.
In striking it seems Vucenic mainly wants to push pace and establish range. He seems to favor calf kicks which is a big meta in MMA right now and a useful skill to have. In fact it seems the first strike he likes to open with in every fight is a calf kick doing so in his fights with Picaud, Deh, and Kepa. Vucenic is very good at blending his striking and grappling. In the Deh fight a beautiful double jab entry seamlessly transitioned into a blast double that shot Deh into the fence and allowed Vucenic to scoop and dump Deh onto the mat to work. A double jab alone in MMA is enough to give me a stiffy let alone a beautiful double jab to blast double takedown. He showcased an ability to stance switch in his latest fights and seems comfortable doing so. I thought he favored the body kick in orthodox but he has also thrown it from southpaw in both the Kepa and Picaud fights. Beautiful teep kicks are also on the menu from both stances. Vucenic does his best work when he uses his striking to push the pace and back opponents up close enough to the fence to either blast them into it with a takedown or trap them with their back against it. If their back is to it he will easily transition the striking to a clinch to secure the takedown. In the Kepa fight I was impressed by his ability to go backwards at an angle rather than a straight line and to easily reclaim the center of the cage and continue to apply his own pressure. Kepa was clearly desperate to get Vucenic off of him and Vucenic skillfully retreated out of danger and safely closed distance again to continue dictating the fight on his terms and pace. This pressure and pace combined with calf kicks quickly adding up resulted in a panic single from Kepa that allowed Vucenic an easy guillotine sub win.
KUTATELADZE
Kutateladze is another man familiar with being an up and coming contender in the UFC. Arriving in 2020 I was a huge fan of his style and thought the sky was the limit. His debut was as tough as possible going up against Mateusz Gamrot, another beacon of light in 155. By his own admission in the post fight interview and in the eyes of many fans he lost that fight in a close split decision. No shame in that however and it was onto the next. Falling victim to many cancelled fights, including this one that was originally supposed to be Abdul Kareem Al Selwady, Guram has only competed in the UFC a grand total of 3 times including his debut since 2020. Visa issues and numerous injuries have also curtailed his career remarkably and unfortunately. Being a Khamzat training partner there is a lot of pressure on Guram. With 3 UFC fights and only one win, things look bleak for Guram at this moment.
In striking Guram favors a Muay Thai stance and approach. He will gladly mix up his attacks and calf kick, body kick, and punch at the head. As shown in the Ismagulov fight, he doesn't just headhunt and by round 3 the calf kicks he was landing were bruising and limiting the movement of Ismagulov. Punches set up kicks and kicks set up punches for Guram. He also favors a fast pace and prefers to take the center of the cage and walk opponents down until they are against the cage. His biggest flaw on the feet and most relevant to this fight is he will easily lose sense of where he is in the cage and forget his own back is to it allowing him to be taken down against the cage as was the case in the Elves Brener fight.
Guram's grappling in the UFC mainly is a defensive showcase. He will do classic pummel and try to break out of clinch against the fence and when he fails gets taken down. He will also try to defend by using his leg between his opponents to limit their ability to switch their hips and move their legs so they can't cut the angle on him to finish a stalled takedown attempt. On the mat he likes to use a rubber guard variation to threaten a gogoplata once again like in the Elves fight. He also tries to put his feet on his opponent's hips and push off after elevating them to create space leading to scrambles. Butterfly guard is the next transition he tries to hit if the feet on hips doesn't pan out. His guard is very active and what I love to see as he will threaten subs to make his opponent uncomfortable to create moments where he can escape or scramble back up to his feet. There's a lot to love about how Guram just refuses to accept bad positions and will turn every grappling opportunity into a dogfight his opponent has to dedicate a lot of time and energy into achieving.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND PREDICTION
I have no idea how Vucenic was able to make 145 when he had fights at that class. I think based off the staredown he is taller than his listed height of 5 feet 9 inches. Guram is listed at 5 feet 11 inches and I think that is Guram's Tinder height and Vucenic's true height. Vucenic is fighting up at 155 but he looks massive at 145 so I think he will still have a weight advantage for sure. He easily made weight thankfully as Jake Hadley proved last week you can definitely miss weight even if you go up a class. Never ask a woman or a fighter their weight but damn I want to know what Vucenic walks around at. Guram is shredded but Vucenic is beefy. Until I watched tape and did research I thought this was a Guram layup. Now I'm walking away a Vucenic fanboy. Make no mistake this is the toughest opponent possible to draw on short notice for Vucenic but I love it. This is how you get your UFC shot, having brass balls on short notice against a killer like Guram. Ultimately I think the size and pressure will be too much for Guram and if Vucenic can work the body and calf kick early and often he can get a body shot finish like Brener over Guram. If he takes a patented grappling approach Guram will easily be trapped against the fence, taken down, and eventually subbed. I'm a huge fan of both men but getting plus 180 moneyline on Vucenic is too good to me. I get it's short notice but I think that's the only reason why he's the underdog because Guram is skidding out and inactive. Vucenic has slick and impressive grappling he will have to work for but I think he wins this fight where he wants it and has skills to dictate the time and place of engagement. I'm taking Vucenic moneyline and you should too because my gut tells me this might be the last time you will ever be able to get him at plus money in the UFC again.
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