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Stay up to date with what’s happening today with the UFC 287 preliminary card, which is going down from the Miami-Dade Arena in Miami, Florida.
This post will start with the card opener Sam Hughes vs. Jaqueline Amorim, and then will will wrap up with the featured prelim bout between Kelvin Gastelum and Chris Curtis.
Aside from the matchup being intriguing, Gastelum and Curtis had interesting betting lines. It’s not very often that we see betting odds flip, but such is the case here. Curtis actually opened up as a -172 betting favorite, with Gastelum starting out with an underdog value of +134. Now, it’s Kelvin who holds the favored line of -132, while Chris is cemented with a dog tag of +112.
Check out this easy to understand graphic from BestFightOdds:
The early prelims begin at 6:30pm ET/3:30pm, PT, immediately followed by the regular preliminary card. Both broadcasts can be streamed on ESPN+. The PPV main card is slated for 10:00pm ET/7:00pm PT, and can be purchased on ESPN+.
UFC 287 Prelims:
- Kelvin Gastelum def. Chris Curtis by decision (30-27, 29-28 x2): Middleweight
Both fighters were looking to attack the legs here. They were taking turns blasting the legs of one another. It was Curtis who landed first with his hands, catching Gastelum with a clean counter. Then it was Gastelum’s turn to counter with a piston of his own. The power seemed to be pretty even, but the volume was on the side of Kelvin. As the round went on, Gastelum stuck with mixing in his kicks with his punches, while Curtis became more fixated on his boxing.
An accidental clash of heads caused Curtis to go down early in the second round, which resulted in Gastelum unloading some quality ground and pound. Curtis was able to get back to his feet, and began ripping hooks to the body. Gastelum began anticipating the body work, but was still scoring clean with his own combinations.
Curtis had a strong start to the final round, but Gastelum kept attacking with his leg kicks on top of his punches. The body work of Curtis continued to be money, and he was having his best round of the fight. Down the stretch, both fighters emptied the tank, hurling labored haymakers back and forth with neither man willing to give an inch.
- Luana Pinheiro def. Michelle Waterson-Gomez by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29): Strawweight
Waterson-Gomez was leading the dance to start this one. She was launching kicks from the outside, while evading the big punches of Pinheiro. A crafty spinning elbow scored for Waterson-Gomez, which was one of the better strikes we’ve seen from from Michelle in recent memory. Pinheiro was having trouble getting close enough to let her hands go, mostly due to Waterson-Gomez owning the range. At the very end of the round, Pinheiro came alive and was finally able to land a flurry to get the attention of Waterson-Gomez.
The second round opened up with a huge counter right from Waterson-Gomez that staggered Pinheiro, followed by a set of front kicks to the face. Pinheiro responded with some stinging leg kicks that were doing damage. That gave her an opportunity to get close enough to blitz Waterson-Gomez with some clean punches. The leg kicks were still doing work for Pinheiro, with very few checks being deployed. Waterson-Gomez did land a sweet elbow in the clinch, but this round appeared to belong to Pinheiro.
Waterson-Gomez went to her grappling to kick off the final round. She clinched up and softened up the legs of Pinheiro with knees. Pinheiro reversed the position and landed some nice knees to the midsection before they broke apart. In open space, Waterson-Gomez was pumping out some busy volume. She wasn’t connecting often, but she was at least throwing things out there. Pinheiro was sitting back on the outside, and wasn’t getting close enough to score.
- Joseph Pyfer def. Gerald Meerschaert by TKO at 3:15 of round 1: Middleweight
Pyfer was the aggressor right away, and was backing up the veteran to the cage. Meerschaert remained composed and wasn’t over-extending himself with his own strikes. Then, Pyfer uncorked a huge left hook to right hand that sent Meerschaert down to the canvas. Pyfer stood over Meerschaert and dropped hammers one at a time until the referee had finally seen enough. This is a massive win for Joe Pyfer!
Karl Williams vs. Chase Sherman: Heavyweight
UFC 287 Early prelims:
- Lupita Godinez def. Cynthia Calvillo by split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29): Strawweight
It was Godinez who took the center to get this one going. She was slowly pressuring forward as she set up her strikes. Her output wasn’t exactly on the high side, but she was being far more productive than Calvillo was. Then, Calvillo changed levels and planted Godinez on her back. Calvillo controlled for a bit, but didn’t really do any damage before Godinez got up.
The forward pressure was still there for Godinez to start the second round, but Calvillow was doing a better job of landing counter strikes. Calvillo went back to the takedown, but Godinez utilized a beautiful whizzer to stay on her feet. The jab of Calvillo showed up this round, too. She was pumping it out there, and wasn’t landing it often, but it was disrupting Loopy’s advances.
The jab continued to be a mainstay for Calvillo in the final round. She opened up the nose of Loopy, and continued to attack her rhythm. Loopy started to show some more urgency, throwing her punches with more intensity, but the jab of Calvillo continued to be an asset.
- Ignacio Bahamondes def. Trey Ogden by unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28): 160-pounds
Bahamondes was utilizing his leg kicks early in this one. He was seamlessly switching stances and throwing them from either side. Ogden was not checking any of them. To make things worse, Trey was standing directly at the end of Bahamondes’ strikes, which was also too far out for him to land his own offense. This was a clean round for Bahamondes.
The second round saw Bahamondes continue to own the standup. Ogden was having trouble getting to his target without eating a combination of some sort. He also wasn’t mixing in any real takedown attempts either. Bahamondes was in complete control, and commanded the cage for the entire round. Ogden landed some descent shots in the final round, but it this was still one way traffic for Bahamondes.
- Steve Garcia def. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke by KO at :36 of round 2: Featherweight
We got an accidental cup check to start this one, but Nuerdanbieke did land a set of punches as he was being fouled. After a brief timeout, the fight got back underway. Then KABOOM! Nuerdanbieke floored Garcia with a monstrous right hand. Shayilan followed Garcia down to the ground and began roughing up his foe even further. Showing off tremendous heart, Garcia worked up to his feet and started to hurt Nuerdanbieke with his power punches just before the bell.
Garcia stunned Nuerdanbieke at the start of the second round with some more heavy leather. Steve smelled blood in the water and peppered the body of Nuerdanbieke to score a knockdown. A barrage of hammerfists came flying in and that was all she wrote! WOW! WHAT A COMEBACK!!!
- Sam Hughes def. Jaqueline Amorim by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): Strawweight
Hughes was pressuring right away, but Amorim was sitting back launching clean right hand counters. Amorim landed the first takedown she attempted, and although Hughes did a great job of quickly getting back to her feet, Jaqueline took her right back down. Hughes found herself deep in a couple of rear-naked choke attempts, but fought tremendously hard to escape.
The takedowns were not there for Amorim at the start of the second round, so she resulted to flopping to her back. Hughes took top position for a bit, but stood up before she dished out any damage. On the feet, the takedowns were labored from Amorim, and Hughes saw them coming from a mile away. Hughes took top position again, this time spending a lot more time controlling. As soon as Amorim started to roll for a kneebar, Hughes wisely stood back up.
Hughes was working her striking at the start of the final round. The telegraphed takedowns from Amorim were being countered with heavy strikes, prompting Amorim to flop again. From the top, Sam dropped plenty of punches, hammerfists, and elbows while she shut down the submission attempts before they even became a real problem.
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