Tomorrow night at UFC Vegas 17 there’s a solid welterweight contest featuring a former champion. Former lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis (23-10), is back in action at welterweight taking on Alex Morono (18-6, 1 NC).
For Morono he’s going to be attempting to pickup his second UFC win in the last two months. Back at UFC Vegas 14, Morono took on Rhys McKee. Morono was able to get the unanimous decision victory that night.
Since November of 2018, Morono has gone 4-1 inside the octagon. This is the biggest fight of his career in terms of name recognition. If he can get a win tomorrow night over a former UFC champion, it would be big for him.
“Showtime” will be looking to pickup his second straight win tomorrow night as well. We last saw the former UFC lightweight champion at UFC 249 when he took on Donald Cerrone.
That night, Pettis was able to squeak out a decision victory. That win snapped a two-fight losing streak for Pettis. Pettis’ career has been up and down over the past few years, but he’s only lost to top competition inside the UFC.
UFC Vegas 17 Prediction
This matchup is an interesting one on paper when you look at the credentials of both fighters. Both of these fighters are blackbelts in taekwondo. Both of these men are also really slick on the ground.
That makes for a very compelling matchup at UFC Vegas 17. However, there is one thing about Morono that really concerns me and that is his striking defense. We’ve seen in his past couple of fights that it hasn’t been great.
Khaos Williams was able to knock him out in 27 seconds and Rhys McKee was able to land 50% of his strikes in their fight. McKee through over 200 strikes so that tells you that Morono was hit a lot.
I think Pettis is going to be able to take advantage of that at UFC Vegas 17. Morono’s chance at winning comes down to wrestling Pettis. However, I just don’t know if his wrestling will outweigh the shots he’s going to take from the former champion.
Prediction: Anthony Pettis by Unanimous Decision