Preview: UFC Des Moines Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will return to the Hawkeye State for the first time in about a quarter century with UFC on ESPN 67 this Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. After missing all of 2024, Miesha Tate’s comeback picks up in the featured prelim, where the former women’s bantamweight champion takes on Yana Santos in a bout that somehow has not yet happened. That’s not the only fight involving ranked competitors, as a women’s strawweight clash pitting Marina Rodriguez against Gillian Robertson ranks as one of the more important matches on the bill. From there, Ryan Loder takes his first assignment as “The Ultimate Fighter 32” winner in a point of intrigue, while the rest of the undercard sees mostly prospects trying to get back on track.

Now to the UFC on ESPN 67 “Sandhagen vs. Figueiredo” prelims preview:

Women’s Bantamweights

Miesha Tate (20-9, 7-6 UFC) vs. Yana Santos (15-8, 5-5 UFC)

ODDS: Tate (-142), Santos (+120)

The women’s bantamweight division is wide open enough that Tate could make another late-career run, even if the former champion’s comeback doesn’t have a ton of current momentum. Her rivalry with Ronda Rousey had a major part in establishing mixed martial arts, so it was nice to see Tate get her moment in the sun as part of the division’s post-“Rowdy” period. After Holly Holm’s all-time knockout of Rousey, her first title defense saw her drop the championship to Tate via an absolute Hail Mary of a fifth-round submission. That figured to set up a big 2016 for Tate—and possibly one more huge-money match upon Rousey’s comeback—but instead she wound up retiring by the end of the year, getting crushed by Amanda Nunes in her own first title defense before putting in a flat performance against Raquel Pennington. Tate’s 2021 comeback was a pleasant surprise, though things went sideways after she looked sharp against Marion Reneau. Tate seemed to drift away from the wrestling that was always her standout skill, leaving her stranded in some ugly losses to Ketlen Vieira and Lauren Murphy. Tate was back to her hard-charging ways for a one-sided win against Julia Avila in December 2023, but she hasn’t done much to build on that promising performance, staying out of action for the last 18 months ahead of this fight against Santos. After her ritual sacrifice to Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Justino in her 2018 UFC debut, Santos has hung around as one of the UFC’s better bantamweights, never truly threatening title contention but turning back the bottom half of the division without much trouble. Initially advertised as a kickboxer, “Foxy” throws out enough offense to keep opponents honest, but her strongest phase is typically the clinch, as her ability to neutralize her opponent is usually what separates her wins from her losses. If Tate takes an aimless and noncommittal approach, Santos can win this with a combination of striking volume and some defensive wrestling. However, based on the Avila performance, it does seem like Tate has turned a mental corner once again and should be able to outwrestle Santos without much trouble. The pick is Tate via third-round submission.

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Santos vs. Tate
Bekoev vs. Loder
Robertson vs. Rodriguez
Bolanos vs. Le
Petersen vs. Mayes
Petrovic vs. Miller