Preview: UFC 288 Prelims

Middleweights

Claudio Ribeiro (10-3, 0-1 UFC) vs. Joseph Holmes (8-3, 1-2 UFC)

ODDS: Ribeiro (-175), Holmes (+150)

Middleweights look to gain some momentum here, and holmes is an interesting talent if nothing else. Long and rangy, “Ugly Man” has enough power behind an awkward striking game to keep opponents honest, all in the name of trying to get in close and outgrapple his opponents. Holmes’ size and length mean he can find some unorthodox ways to take his opponent’s back and hunt for submissions, but that has stalled out to a frustrating degree in his two UFC losses thus far. An October pairing against Jun Yong Park seemed clearly set up to be a Holmes loss, but his being unable to find anything against Jamie Pickett back in January 2022 remains a disappointing result. At any rate, Holmes’ game figures to either work perfectly or get blown up badly against Brazil’s Ribeiro, who is much more in the typical mold of a UFC signee nowadays. Ribeiro has not proven much beyond his ability to score a knockout. It is a plus for Ribeiro that his few fights to go any length of time have shown that he carries his power into later rounds, but getting there can be an adventure. His UFC debut loss to Abdul Razak Alhassan affirmed that Ribeiro does not have much to offer when it comes to clinch work and wrestling, forcing him to have to hope his opponent exhausts himself if he cannot find an early knockout. Holmes might get clipped but seems fairly durable, so the odds are that he will be able to close distance and swamp Ribeiro with some grappling work in short order. The pick is Holmes via first-round submission.

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