Preview: UFC Fight Night 241 Prelims

Women’s Strawweights

Emily Ducote (13-8, 2-2 UFC) vs. Vanessa Demopoulos (10-5, 4-2 UFC)

ODDS: Ducote (-340), Demopoulos (+270)

Two strawweights look to keep the momentum going. The hope was that Ducote could move quickly through the UFC’s strawweight division ahead of her debut in 2022. Formerly an unspectacular grappling specialist as a flyweight, “Gordinha” did an impressive job of reinventing herself as a pressure striker while moving down to 115 pounds. Ducote has done well enough in her four UFC fights, splitting them in terms of wins and losses, but it does looks like she’s already hit a clear ceiling after losses to Angela Hill and Lupita Godinez. Ducote can pour things on when given a clear advantage, but she hasn’t shown much of a second gear to dig herself out of a hole. After rebounding from those two losses with a win over Ashley Yoder in October, Ducote now takes on Demopoulos. The 35-year-old Demopoulos is coming at things from somewhat of an opposite angle, as her game is built around tons of physicality but little in terms of consistency. Demopoulos’ striking isn’t pretty, but she can hit like a truck, though the core of her skill set is a surprisingly flexible grappling game given her muscled-up frame. Demopoulos can usually lean on her horsepower to take some messy wins over the bottom reaches of the UFC roster, though there are times when it feels like she has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Beyond her sudden comeback submission of Silvana Gomez Juarez in 2022, Demopoulos got a surprising decision win over Kanako Murata in a fight where the Rizin Fighting Federation veteran controlled most of the action. The main question here is whether Demopoulos’ wild but powerful striking can scare Ducote off of her consistent pressure. The read is that Ducote can coast this one out well enough to win on the scorecards. The pick is Ducote via decision.

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Ducote vs. Demopoulos