UFC Vegas 86 Prelims: Who now?

UFC Vegas 86 is the most Apex card that ever was…until the next one arrives. They’re all starting to look the same to us. This week’s card is packed with 185-pounders, as if we needed yet another middleweight-led show. And just in case you missed our main card episode, here’s a few facts for you to get started:

UFC Vegas 86 Factoids

• Ranked fights (meaning both athletes are ranked): 0
• Ranked athletes: 2
• Fighters coming off a loss: 13
• Number of MW bouts on this card: 4
• Number of fighters debuting: 5

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s take a look at the glaring elephant in the room—the absolute dearth of name value. The featured prelim is Trevin Giles vs. Carlos Prates, and neither Giles nor the debuting Prates have enough juice to move the needle even a little. It’s not even the most interesting bout on the undercard. That honor goes to the curtain-jerker, Daniel Marcos vs. Aoriqileng.

It is absolutely mind-boggling that the matchmakers would put one of the best fights on the card this far down. Michael Johnson’s fight with Darius Flowers should be the featured prelim. You get the veteran name value in the proper place and the Marcos-Aoriqileng can move up to the main card. Do we really have to do your jobs for you, Mr. Shelby and Mr. Maynard?

As for the rest of the contests on the UFC Vegas bout sheet, you are probably trying to figure out if you recognize most of the names featured on the prelims. If you don’t regularly watch Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, you might very well be in the dark. It’s just another in a long line of Apex events that get the bare minimum of everything, be it the matchmaking or the actual promoting of the event.

And that’s not to say there won’t be great fights to emerge from cards like this, because there undoubtedly will be. But you need a hook to lure in new fans and keep the old ones from finding something better to watch. If ESPN ends up staying the UFC’s primary broadcast partner, hopefully they put something in the contract language that will force them to limit the amount of events held in the Apex.

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UFC Vegas 86 Prelims

• Trevin Giles  vs.  Carlos Prates 170 lbs
• Timothy Cuamba  vs.  Bolaji Oki 155 lbs
• Loma Lookboonmee  vs.  Bruna Brasil 115 lbs
• Devin Clark  vs.  Marcin Prachnio 205 lbs
• Jeremiah Wells  vs.  Max Griffin 170 lbs
• Zac Pauga  vs.  Bogdan Guskov 205 lbs
• Hyder Amil  vs.  Fernie Garcia 145 lbs
• Daniel Marcos  vs.  Aoriqileng 135 lbs

Don’t forget to check out the bonus section for a great review of the UFC Vegas 86 preliminary card. Make sure to tune in immediately after this weekend’s fights for breakdowns and analysis on our 6th Round Post-Fight Show. Follow us as @BloodyElbow on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and at BloodyElbow.Substack.com & BloodyElbowPodcast.Substack.com.

What comes after UFC Vegas 86?

The next event after UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Pyfer will be UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria on February 17th. That card is taking place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and will enjoy a featherweight title fight in the main event between the champ, Alexander Volkanovski, and his undefeated challenger, Ilia Topuria. The co-main event is slated for a middleweight collision between former champ, Robert Whittaker, and the wild card Paulo Costa.

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Stephie Haynes

Stephie Haynes has been covering MMA since 2005. She has also worked for MMA promotion Proelite and apparel brand TapouT. She hosted TapouT’s official radio show for four years before joining Bloody Elbow in 2012. She has interviewed everyone there is to interview in the fight game from from Dana White to Conor McGregor to Kimbo Slice, as well as mainstream TV, film and music stars including Norman Reedus, RZA and Anthony Bourdain. She has been producing the BE podcast network since 2017 and hosts four of its current shows.

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