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The undercard of UFC 298 is kind of a mixed bag. As Connor Ruebusch put it, “There are a couple gems sprinkled in there but the rest are typical prelims.” We have come to expect “typical prelims” to equate to low-tier, regional level fights, and that is certainly what we’ve got with this event. Fortunately, the matchmaking brass did the rare excellent job stacking the main card with really good fights, so we can sort of excuse the haphazard way they threw together these contests.
The featured prelim seems like whichever way the wind blows would be an expected outcome. Amanda Lemos is dynamite in the standup, especially in the proverbial phone booth, but she’s pretty easy to out-wrestle, out-grapple, what have you. Mackenzie Dern thinks she can strike, but truth be told, her striking has barely improved after several years with the promotion. If this goes her way, we’ll know why. If it goes Lemos’ way, ditto. A two-true outcome fight if ever there was one.
Rinya Nakamura is another fighter we’ve been keeping our collective eyes on, but he is unfortunately stuck with a late replacement opponent that will do nothing for his advancement. Carlos Vera is coming off a loss to Brad Katona from his days on The Ultimate Fighter, so a win over him doesn’t do a whole lot for Rinya, but a loss would absolutely disrupt what he’s accomplished so far.
We also have Miranda Maverick set to take on Andrea Lee in the curtain-jerker. Lee has to be in a must-win situation since she’s on a three-fight losing skid. It seems like maybe Miranda Maverick will be gearing up to give Lee her walking papers with a win over the long-time vet. At the very least, she should supplant Lee’s Number 15 ranking.
That also brings us to the stats portion you’re looking for. These stats will serve the entire card, not just the prelims.
UFC 298 Factoids
- Ranked fights: 5
- Ranked fighters: 13
- Fighters coming off a loss: 10
- Fighters coming directly from Contender Series: 3
- Contender Series alumni in total: 6
- Fighters coming directly from TUF: 1
- Fighters coming directly from Road to UFC: 1
- Road to UFC alumni in total: 2
UFC 298 Prelims
- Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern
- Marcos Rogério de Lima vs. Justin Tafa
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Carlos Vera
- Mingyang Zhang vs. Brendson Ribeiro
- Josh Quinlan vs. Danny Barlow
- Val Woodburn vs. Oban Elliott
- Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick
Don’t forget to check out the bonus section for a great review of the UFC Vegas 86 preliminary card. Make sure to tune in immediately after this weekend’s fights for breakdowns and analysis on our 6th Round Post-Fight Show.
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What comes after UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria?
The next event after UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria will be UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval 2 on February 24th. That card is taking place at the Arena CDMX Mexico City, Mexico and the main event will enjoy a rematch between Top-5 flyweights Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval. The co-main event has an even better rematch than that when elite featherweights Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega run it back.