Preview: UFC Baku Prelims

Women’s Bantamweights

Melissa Mullins (7-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Darya Zheleznyakova (9-2, 1-1 UFC)

ODDS: Mullins (-278), Zheleznyakova (+225)

The bottom half of the UFC women’s bantamweight division continues to shake itself out, and Mullins looks to be one of the better fliers the UFC has taken in the last few years. Mullins doesn’t appear to have a ton of athletic upside, but she has a dedicated approach that’s better than a lot of her peers bring to the table, relying on her durability to eventually get to takedowns, at which point she can unleash some surprisingly effective ground-and-pound. That has already gone south once, as she got stopped by Nora Cornolle in the second of her three UFC bouts, and she has eaten enough damage in her wins to raise some red flags. With that said, “No Mess” does at least look to be improving while already having something to hang her hat on. Mullins earned her UFC contract with a 2022 win over Zheleznyakova, and it’s somewhat surprising that the UFC decided to run that fight back here, as it doesn’t seem like either fighter has changed much during the ensuing three years. Mullins did, in fact, get taken apart on the feet before landing a takedown and pounding out a stoppage shortly thereafter, and Zheleznyakova is still generally the same raw athlete who’s still trying to figure out her game. Zheleznyakova did at least look solid in her UFC debut against Montserrat Rendon—the Russian had the speed to consistently stay ahead of her opponent—but a quick follow-up loss to Ailin Perez drove home her issues on the mat. Zheleznyakova is clearly the better athlete, so any newfound improvements from her last fight could pay plenty of dividends, but there’s not much to suggest that this is going to go much different than their first fight, save for the Russian being able to stave off Mullins for a bit longer. The pick is Mullins via second-round stoppage.

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