The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is on the final stretch of its 2023 campaign. The next big event is UFC on ESPN 52, scheduled for this Saturday at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. This marks the first time UFC has visited the Lone Star State in over eight months.
The main event will be a five-round lightweight bout. Kings MMA’s Beneil Dariush will face off against American Top Team’s Arman Tsarukyan, both ranked lightweights. Meanwhile, Jalin Turner is stepping in as a late replacement for Dan Hooker. He’ll be challenging former King of the Cage champion Bobby Green in a three-round lightweight co-headliner.
The rest of the main card is equally exciting. There’s a bantamweight tilt featuring Rob Font and Deiveson Figueiredo. A welterweight scrap sees Sean Brady battling Kelvin Gastelum. Clay Guida and Joaquim Silva are paired for a lightweight affair. A middleweight confrontation pits Punahele Soriano against Dustin Stoltzfus. Miesha Tate is carrying the undercard, taking on Julia Avila in a three-round women’s bantamweight battle.
Social media is buzzing with anticipation for the event. However, not everyone is excited about the headliner between Dariush and Tsarukyan. Despite the potential for the winner to be a title contender, some feel it’s not moving the needle.
Dariush has had a strong run, with eight wins in his last nine fights. However, he’s coming off a technical knockout loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 289 in June. The 34-year-old Rafael Cordeiro protégé sees his showdown with Tsarukyan as a high-risk, low-reward proposition.
Tsarukyan, 27, has been somewhat unnoticed at 155 pounds. He’s only lost to current champion Islam Makhachev and former two-division KSW champion Mateusz Gamrot. The Russian is known for turning bouts into bloodbaths.
Jalin Turner, one of the most physically gifted lightweights, keeps himself grounded by remembering his origins. Bobby Green, on the other hand, is 47 fights into a career that started in 2008 and has never looked better. His late-career resurgence has some drawing parallels to Jorge Masvidal.
Deiveson Figueiredo, who twice ruled the UFC flyweight division, is moving up to 135 pounds. Many feel this will be beneficial for Figueiredo, who turns 37 soon. Rob Font, a former CES MMA champion, remains one of the UFC’s Top 10 bantamweights despite losing three of his last four fights.
Clay Guida made his UFC debut on Oct. 14, 2006. The former Strikeforce champion now ranks fourth on the company’s all-time list with 35 appearances. Finally, Miesha Tate has been vocal about the uncomfortable subject of weight cutting in mixed martial arts.