Preview: UFC Fight Night 172 ‘Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2’

Lightweights

Marc Diakiese (14-3) vs. Rafael Fiziev (7-1)

ODDS: Diakiese (-160), Fiziev (+140)

It has taken a bit longer than expected, but Diakiese is finally cashing in on his prospect hype. Diakiese came into the UFC with an excellent highlight reel and sky-high expectations, and despite winning his first three fights inside of the Octagon, some red flags were raised. In the first two of those bouts, Diakiese struggled when he could not simply out-athlete an opponent, but that all was swept aside with an absolutely brutal knockout of Teemu Packalen that seemingly convinced the UFC to finally pull the trigger on the adopted Brit. Unfortunately, intentionally or not, the UFC seemingly picked the worst possible opponents for the “Bonecrusher” to get over the hump, as fights against Drakkar Klose, Dan Hooker and Nasrat Haqparast are all ones that look much harder in retrospect. Klose turned their fight into an absolute grind that went against Diakiese, and Diakiese’s attempts to outmuscle Hooker went well enough for two rounds—until Hooker caught him in a guillotine choke early in the third. To his credit, Diakiese looked much more structured against Haqparast, but that turned into his third straight loss. Rather than give Diakiese a softer test, he was matched with another tough opponent in Joseph Duffy and looked to be in danger of sliding off the UFC roster with another setback. Fortunately for him, that was when everything finally started to click. Diakiese broke down the Irishman with a strong leg-kicking game and took over the fight, and after a similarly one-sided win over Lando Vannata, Diakiese looks ready to charge up the lightweight ladder in earnest. As always, Diakiese finds himself in another tough fight, this time against Fiziev.

Kyrgyzstan’s Fiziev is an exciting prospect thanks to his powerful muay Thai stylings, but his UFC debut went about as poorly as possible. His fight with Magomed Mustafaev wound up as the banger most expected, but that was because the Russian immediately clanged Fiziev with a spinning back kick before putting away the fight with some punches. Thankfully, Fiziev managed to rebound in much more of a showcase fight against Alex White, and while the main event is still obviously his striking style, he showed enough to acquit himself as a full-fledged mixed martial artist. Fiziev is still relatively young in his MMA career, so another loss here would not mean immediate doom, but it is a big chance to prove right now that he is more than an action fighter.

This is a funny booking, if only because it is the rare fight where the older version of Diakiese might fare better. Fiziev seemed to be thrown off by Mustafaev’s combination of lack of structure and brutal power, which describes Diakiese’s old game to a T. While this more orthodox version of Diakiese may play more into Fiziev’s hands—and kicks—it is still hard not to favor Diakiese here. He is still the harder hitter, and he should be able to get the better of any clinch and wrestling situations without much of a threat. Add in that he has proven to be durable, and there just does not seem to be the sense of danger that Fiziev needs in order to get his style truly clicking. The pick is Diakiese via decision.

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