Preview: UFC 323 Prelims

Middleweights

Mansur Abdul-Malik (8-0-1, 2-0-1 UFC) vs. Antonio Trocoli (12-5, 0-2 UFC)

BETTING ODDS: Abdul-Malik (-1150), Trocoli (+650)

The slow climb continues for Abdul-Malik. A former collegiate wrestler, Abdul-Malik certainly looks the part of a top prospect, owing to his athleticism and a surprising amount of poise given his lack of experience. While Abdul-Malik shows some flashes of brilliance, including some particularly brutal ground-and-pound when given the opportunity, his time under the UFC banner has shown that he clearly needs more experience. Abdul-Malik often verges on being patient to a fault, capable of exploiting opportunities that his opponents provide but doing little to force those openings himself. That makes for some frustrating fights at times, and there’s a chance his situation could turn disastrous due to Abdul-Malik’s current lack of high-level defensive vision, as evidenced by his nearly getting knocked out by Nick Klein in February. A June draw against Cody Brundage was just plain ugly, but it’s still hard to be down on Abdul-Malik’s potential. Whenever things truly click, he has all the tools to be a terror for the middleweight division.

Trocoli is the right level of next test for Abdul-Malik, as the Brazilian veteran figures to frustrate him with little potential of securing a win. Trocoli’s UFC status became a running joke at times. Initially signed in 2019, Trocoli was in and out of the promotion due to injuries and drug test failures before finally making his debut five years later. Trocoli did better than expected, giving Sharabutdin Magomedov a tough time before suffering a late knockout. However, he generally looks like a fringe UFC fighter at best as a bullying clinch artist who tends to peter out if he cannot find an early submission—or if he doesn’t get submitted himself, which was the case in his sophomore effort against Tresean Gore. This should wind up as a grind until Trocoli tires out, at which point Abdul-Malik should be able to break the fight open. The pick is Abdul-Malik via second-round stoppage.

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