Preview: UFC Qatar Prelims

Heavyweights

Marek Bujlo (6-0; 0-0 UFC) vs. Denzel Freeman (6-1; 0-0 UFC)

Odds: Freeman (-150); Bujlo (+130)

The UFC spent much of the summer and fall signing every regional heavyweight with a pulse, and here they come, starting with undefeated Polish grappler Bujlo taking on Freeman, the American wrestler.

Right off the bat, these are two incredibly difficult fighters to scout simply because they’re so green. With six and seven career fights respectively, mostly against very overmatched opposition, it’s tough to tell how good they are. Bujlo, in particular, is a mystery; his six wins have come in barely a single round’s worth of cage time, and in such low-level organizations that video isn’t even available for some of them. Freeman’s tape archive is better, but not by much. Training footage abounds, as Bujlo is the head grappling coach at his own gym, while Freeman is a social media head who clearly enjoys posting videos of his wrestling and fight training, so at least we have something.

Bujlo is a fairly big-framed heavyweight who will probably look and fight bigger in the cage despite giving up 15 or 20 pounds to the American. His striking looks raw, with a lot of big swings and arm punches, but that is all a prelude to his grappling anyway. While Bujlo doesn’t bring a huge list of BJJ accomplishments, he is clearly a very skilled submission grappler, but his wrestling mostly consists of basic shots from the outside and body locks up close, which he finishes with strength more than finesse. He works quickly when on top, delivering big ground strikes. Big enough, in fact, that he hasn’t even had to cinch up any chokes in a while; the strikes alone have been enough to finish off his last four foes.

Freeman is a lot of fun, or will be if he wins enough to stick around. His Legacy Fighting Alliance belt is a nice achievement, and will give the UFC announcers something to say, but it’s an indicator of the state of regional heavyweight MMA rather than Freeman’s advanced development. Freeman’s striking is basic but his hands are fast and he has good power. He has some glaring defensive flaws, but nobody has yet been able to seriously make him pay for them, even in his lone professional loss.

Freeman is a good wrestler, having done some college work at the NAIA level, then kept honing his skills in the Marines and in Greco-Roman as well as senior freestyle competition since then. Short and stocky, he is nimbler and quicker on his feet than you might think, and once he has an opponent down, he shows urgency and good finishing instincts.

Again, this is a tricky fight to predict; there might be less high-quality tape on these two fighters than any other pair of opponents in the five years I’ve been doing previews for Sherdog. The pick is Freeman, as the harder hitter and the one with the (slightly) higher-level experience, to catch Bujlo on the feet and notch a first-round knockout.



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Bujlo vs. Freeman