The UFC 281 prelim card features four bouts, all of which will be previewed in this post. It will feature a pivotal women’s flyweight bout between contenders Erin Blanchfield and Molly McCann. It will also see light heavyweight contenders Dominick Reyes (pictured above left) and Ryan Spann (pictured above right) battle it out. Finally, it’ll be capped by a lightweight bout between Brad Riddell and Renato Moicano. All win probabilities are based on a fighter’s CC Rating and their place in the CC Rankings.

You can find the previews for the early prelims HERE.

Andre Petroski vs. Wellington Turman (Men’s Middleweight)

Subjective Spin on Objective Reality: Conventional wisdom says that a bout between two grapplers usually results in a standup bout. That wisdom likely back Petroski, who has a 100 percent finishing rate and a better standup game. However, Turman might back his jiujitsu to beat Petroski’s more conventional wrestling. Given Petroski’s perfect finish rate, we might not know what he has to give in the later rounds of a fight. However, Petroski’s not given us a reason to doubt him just yet.

Editor’s Pick: Petroski

[12] Erin Blanchfield vs. [6] Molly McCann (Women’s Flyweight)

Subjective Spin on Objective Reality: Few flyweights have looked better than Blanchfield (#12 CC, #12 UFC) since she came into the UFC. She’s ragdolled some of the best fighters in the world and has made it look easy. At just 23 years old, she’s already made it into both the Cage Calculus and UFC top 15 rankings. The sky is the absolute limit for her on the ground and in the standup game. However, McCann (#6 CC, #15 UFC) is quickly becoming one of the more popular fighters with her energy and antics in and out of the cage. And she’s largely backing it up with a couple of sensational finishes as of late. This will be her biggest test yet for sure. Blanchfield’s ground game, though, should be more than enough to subdue McCann for three rounds, if not lock up a submission.

Editor’s Pick: Blanchfield

[10] Dominick Reyes vs. [9] Ryan Spann (Men’s Light Heavyweight)

Subjective Spin on Objective Reality: The UFC can be an unkind sport. However, it’s perhaps been unkindest of all to Reyes (#10 CC, #7 UFC) lately. Reyes fought legend and possible greatest of all-time, Jon Jones, to a razor thin decision that many believe Reyes should have won. Reyes then got another title shot after Jones vacated, but was finished by Jan Blachowicz (#1 CC, #2 UFC). Reyes then tried to turn things around, but was put to sleep by now-current champion Jiri Prochazka. He’s fought perhaps the toughest three-fight stretch that anyone has ever had. It gets easier, but not by much against Spann (#9 CC, #12 UFC). Spann is an imposing figure, scary in the standup but has made most of his success in the submission game. This would be his most impressive win to date. However, let’s not let this losing streak distract from the fact that Reyes is as good a light heavyweight as there is. He should return to the win column tonight.

Editor’s Pick: Reyes

Renato Moicano vs. Brad Riddell (Men’s Lightweight)

Subjective Spin on Objective Reality: Moicano has been an exciting fighter, displaying determination and grit in wins and losses. However, he’s come up just short in his swings at the top 15. He’s a master of many disciplines, with black belts in both Muy Thai and Brazilian Jiujitsu. He also started his career off in Judo. As evidenced by the finishing methods of each fighter, expect Riddell to have a standup advantage and Moicano to look to get it to the ground. Riddell had cracked the top 15, before suffering two losses to top fighters now in the top 15 themselves. This has led many (including our algorithm) to overlook him a bit. However, he is still a talent and will have the City Kickboxing team behind him in full force. Expect him to make some noise with his hands early and mitigate Moicano in the later rounds to get to a win and back on track.

Editor’s Pick: Riddell

Photo Credit: Sportskeeda