Top Reasons to Catch UFC Vegas 102

Jared Cannonier and Gregory Rodrigues will do their part to flesh out the pecking order in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division when they confront one another in the UFC Fight Night 251 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Neither man can afford to cede ground at 185 pounds—a weight class currently ruled by Dricus Du Plessis.

A staple of the UFC for more than a decade, Cannonier enters the cage on the heels of back-to-back losses for the first time since 2018. The MMA Lab export last strapped on the gloves at UFC on ESPN 62, where he wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous decision against Caio Borralho on Aug. 24. Cannonier, who turns 41 in March, has competed in three different weight classes—middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight—as a member of the UFC roster, his tenure highlighted by victories over Marvin Vettori, Sean Strickland, Derek Brunson, Kelvin Gastelum and Anderson Silva. Rodrigues, meanwhile, steps into the spotlight on the strength of a three-fight winning streak. The former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion last saw action on July 27, when he outpointed Christian Leroy Duncan to a unanimous verdict across three rounds at UFC 304. Rodrigues operates out of the Kill Cliff Fight Club camp in Deerfield Beach, Florida, where Henri Hooft, Greg Jones and a host of other world-class coaches oversee his development.

Besides the compelling middleweight clash between Cannonier and Rodrigues, here are three other reasons to catch UFC Vegas 102:

Opposites Attract

Calvin Kattar feels more like a gatekeeper than a contender at this stage of his career. The New England Cartel linchpin finds himself on a career-worst three-fight losing streak ahead of his battle with the surging Youssef Zalal in the featherweight co-main event. Kattar, 36, has not fought since he lost a unanimous decision to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 300 on April 13. Despite his recent skid, the Methuen, Massachusetts, native still holds a respectable 7-6 record over his 13 appearances in the UFC. On the other side of the equation, stock in Zalal has never been more valuable. The Factory X standout has rattled off six straight victories, all of them finishes. Zalal last suited up on Nov. 2, when he disposed of Jack Shore with an arm-triangle choke in the second round of their UFC Fight Night 246 confrontation. Nearly three years now stand between “The Moroccan Devil” and his most recent defeat.

An Unusual Suspect

Edmen Shahbazyan has been called everything from a blue-chip prospect to an outright fraud since he linked arms with the UFC in 2018. In reality, he probably falls somewhere in between. The 27-year-old Xtreme Couture export attempts to rebound from his most recent setback when he collides with Dylan Budka in a three-round middleweight showcase. Shahbazyan has lost five times in seven outings after starting his career a perfect 11-0. His tailspin includes an arm-triangle choke submission loss to ex-Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion Gerald Meerschaert at UFC on ESPN 62 in August. Budka, meanwhile, has yet to get off the schneid in the UFC, as he has been greeted by consecutive defeats to Cesar Almeida and Andre Petroski. He punched his ticket to promotion via Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023.

Show of Force

Though a few notable hiccups have capped some of the hype that once surrounded Rodolfo Vieira, he remains an intriguing figure in the middleweight division. The longtime black belt and multiple-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion looks to build on some recent momentum when he toes the line against the aforementioned Petroski in a featured attraction at 185 pounds. Vieira answers the call to arms on the heels of back-to-back wins over Cody Brundage and Armen Petrosyan. “The Black Belt Hunter” was a gold medalist at the 2015 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World Championships, where he strengthened his position as one of this generation’s most accomplished grapplers. Petroski, 33, has quietly pieced together a 7-2 record since signed with the UFC in 2021. The Daniel Gracie protégé has never been submitted in his 15-fight career.