Heavyweight Co-Main Event
This co-main event features some heavy hitters in the heavyweight division. Josh Parisian is making his UFC debut following his first round knockout of Chad Johnson on the Contender Series in August. He’s on a six-fight win streak, finishing each of those wins within the first two rounds, with only one opponent escaping the first round.
Parker Porter will be looking to spoil Parisians debut, after his own debut went unfavorably on the UFC 252 prelims in August. Porter was finished in the first round of that fight by Chris Daukaus, snapping a two-fight win streak. Each of those wins were finishes. Porter has been finished in all six of his professional losses.
Parisian is a highly educated striker and a great athlete. He takes a square, Muay Thai-style stance and is at no shortage of unpredictable strikes. From his spinning side kicks to his spinning backlists to his ducking roundhouses, Parisian always seems to be throwing the last strike his opponents expect him to throw. He has great right overhands and lead left hooks.
He likes to move forward on his feet, but backs his opponents down effectively with his feints and jabs. His movement can be linear but he can usually compensate with good head movement and guard discipline. When he’s in trouble, he does have the ability to grapple his way out of it.
Parisian has shown some excellent clinch skills, and is much physically stronger than most of his opponents. He works underhooks and excellent head position to earn himself favorable positions along the fence. However he’s naturally a striker and has struggled at times against more advanced grapplers in the clinch.
He has executed some excellent double leg takedowns, and is deadly from top mount. He’s a smart grappler on the ground, utilizing cross-body pressure to hold his opponents down before moving into side control and controlling wrists to land shots.
Porter is a big power striker with great hand speed. He’s an intelligent striker with a mind for self-preservation. He has somewhat hectic but effective head movement and throws some winging counters.
Porter is naturally a counter striker, and his skills appear to be heavily rooted in basic boxing. Other than what we’ve mentioned, there really isn’t much Porter is going to be able to offer to this fight. Though he is an intelligent fighter and educated striker, he doesn’t quit match Parisian in any of these departments.
Parisian is pretty clearly the better fighter here, and that’s evident in the moneyline odds. You can feel safe playing the Parisian moneyline in parlays, and Parisian by KO/TKO at -130 is a fairly priced bet you can also be confident in, but the line is running fast.
Sharp Corner Of The Octagon 