Preview: UFC 322 Prelims

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s annual visit to Madison Square Garden this Saturday in New York will bring forth one of the most stacked cards of the year at UFC 322, as evidenced by its strong set of prelims. Bo Nickal looks to recover from his first professional loss when he meets Rodolfo Vieira in a well-matched middleweight showcase, but the two highlights of this undercard batch come directly beforehand.

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Middleweights Roman Kopylov and Gregory Rodrigues should engage in some high-level violence, while a rematch between ranked women’s flyweights Erin Blanchfield and Tracy Cortez should thrust the winner into title contention. Beyond those, there are plenty of compelling bouts with entertainment potential dotted by some high-level prospects. Malcolm Wellmaker, Fatima Klein and Baisangur Susurkaev all stand out as talents receiving the correct next steps in their career progressions.

Now to the preview for the UFC 322 “Della Maddalena vs. Makhachev” prelims:

Middleweights

Bo Nickal (7-1, 4-1 UFC) vs. Rodolfo Vieira (11-3, 6-3 UFC)

BETTING ODDS: Nickal (-225), Vieira (+185)

It figured to be interesting whenever Nickal had to rebound from his first career loss, and the blue-chip prospect now finds himself in that position. Expectations were high for Nickal, a highly decorated collegiate wrestler, immediately upon his transition to mixed martial arts. It came against a low level of opposition, but Nickal quickly showed some grappling ability and knockout power that suggested he could quickly rocket up the middleweight ranks. That indeed wound up being the case—against the lower half or so of UFC middleweights, Nickal made his fights look like easy work—but the cracks first started to show a bit in his win over Paul Craig around this time in 2024. Craig is a one-dimensional submission threat, and Nickal was content to just stay at range and win a lackluster boxing match, resulting in a divisive reaction. Nickal’s supporters—and the fighter himself—defended it as a smart game plan and an opportunity to bank some much-needed fight time, while his detractors could point to his refusing to lean on his best weapons against the first opponent who could seriously threaten him on the ground. Nickal’s next fight, a May loss to Reinier de Ridder via second-round stoppage, probably did more to validate that latter argument, if only when it comes to his need to stay in control of a fight. De Ridder consistently forced wrestling and grappling exchanges, and while Nickal should be technically superior in that area, he obviously started to have issues with the pace that the Dutchman set, making some poor decisions as his gas tank started to empty ahead of the finish. Those could prove to be permanent flaws for Nickal or just something that he overcomes with experience, and it’s unclear if the UFC will even bring him along slowly enough to find out. At any rate, this attempt at a rebound against Vieira is an interesting matchup.

Vieira is in a bizarre spot as part success story and part cautionary tale, as he has overcome his own mental issues to turn into a fighter who feels a lot less than the sum of his parts. Vieira came to the UFC in 2019 with some contender potential. A decorated submission artist, “The Black Belt Hunter” was also a physical powerhouse who seemed to also have some potential as a striker. Even during his first few UFC fights, which were mostly one-sided, there was an interesting subplot of Vieira being quite open about his anxiety during his fights. That came home to roost in a major way against Anthony Hernandez. A dogged but much less technically sound wrestler and grappler, Hernandez just set a ridiculous pace from the outset, tiring Vieira out in what figured to be the Brazilian’s type of fight and scoring what felt like one of the unlikeliest submission victories in UFC history. That proved to be a turning point for Vieira, who eventually discovered some more comfort inside the cage while also building out his striking skills. A year and change after the Hernandez loss, Vieira impressively hung with Chris Curtis for three rounds on the feet. It eventually looked like Vieira was rounding into contender form, finding some effectiveness as a striker while also figuring out when to pick his moments to sell out for takedowns and submissions, but it does feel like he has started to overcompensate for his previous issues a bit too much. Vieira’s wrestling has proven ineffective in his last two bouts, and he has found himself in an odd spot between pressing the issue too much—he should probably just cut bait, given how little wrestling success he has found—and not enough, as there also isn’t much aggression and pressure to his general approach. It’s sort of a pressure fighter’s approach without the pressure, resulting in a lot of disconnected skills that don’t come together quite as well as they should. This remains a dangerous fight for Nickal but does seem like a pairing where he can thread the needle for success. Vieira is at his best on top as a grappler, so Nickal should be able to bank control time in a wrestling match, or he could just wind up winning a redux of the Craig fight if the Brazilian never presses the issue. This might not be the fight that answers the questions raised from the loss to de Ridder, but the pick is Nickal via decision.

Continue Reading »
Nickal vs. Vieira
Rodrigues vs. Kopylov
Blanchfield vs. Cortez
Wellmaker vs. Haddon
Daukaus vs. Meerschaert
Sabatini vs. Mariscal
Kline vs. Hill
Susurkaev vs. McConico
Camilo vs. Borschev