UFC Vegas 51 Preview
The UFC will be heading back to the Apex for UFC Vegas 51. The main event will be a rematch and an important fight in the welterweight title conversation between #5 Vicente Luque and #6 Belal Muhammad.
The two originally met back in 2016 at UFC 205 with Luque dominating by first round KO. Since then Luque has gone 10-2 and Muhammad has gone 10-1-1. Both fighters have improved which should make for a more competitive fight this time around and both could make a major case as a title challenger.
Luque has won four straight fights most recently defeating Michael Cheese by first round submission at UFC 265 in August. A fifth win a row has to seriously put him in the title conversation in a loaded UFC welterweight division. However, Luque is not overlooking how dangerous a second fight with Muhammad will be. He commented on his opponents improved wrestling.
“Of course I’d prefer it if we stayed on the feet, but I think the chances of that are slim,” Luque admitted. “I knocked him out in our first fight, so he knows how dangerous I am on the feet. I think he’ll opt for the wrestling game, which he’s very good at. He dominated Thompson, won every round very decisively. I think he’ll try to turn out fight into a wrestling match. He’ll try to smother me against the fence or take me down and not let let my hands go.”
The Brazilian went on to say, “I’ve been practicing a lot of wrestling. Like I’ve had my whole career, so I can neutralize his game. I will neutralize it, I’ll try to impose my striking and get the KO. I’m very dangerous on the ground, too, like I’ve shown in my last fights. I have submission skills. My style is always about attacking and finishing the fight. I think he’ll try to avoid that, make the fight a little more boring and win by decision.”
Luque thinks you can count on a typical Luque fight on Saturday. “I can promise you a lot of action and a very aggressive fight. I don’t know how it’s going to be, but I don’t think it goes the distance. I believe I’ll get a knockout or a submission. We have five rounds. I’m an aggressive guy, I look for openings. When you add all that, it’s not going the distance.”
Aside from Chiesa and Muhammad, the 30-year-old has key victories in his career over Tyron Woodley, Randy Brown, Niko Price (twice), Mike Perry and Bryan Barbarena. At this point he is chasing a title shot so a second win over Muhammad would be the biggest victory of his career.
Muhammad is coming off a dominant unanimous decision victory over Stephen Thompson last December, where he displayed his much improved wrestling. The win was his second in a row over a former title challenger after defeating Demian Maia at UFC 263.
The 33-year-old has not forgotten about the first fight with Luque and trying to manage the emotions of the rematch. “I’m not a guy that has to hate you, but I do have that little chip on my shoulder,” Muhammad said. “A little bit of an edge because of how I lost to him, and he’s the only person in my career to finish me. I don’t need the animosity to fuel me for this fight, especially because of the stakes of this fight.
“We’re the only two fighters in the top-five fighting each other. We’re both winning fights and we’re fighting each other at our hottest points.”
Muhammad also has key wins over Dhiego Lima, Tim Means and Randy Brown. To avenge his loss over Luque would be the biggest win of his career and he would enter the title conversation. Should he defeat Luque, he has ideas about a fight with Colby Covington to solidify his title hopes. But also because of his distaste for Covington’s trash talk.
“It just shows that he’s literally a piece of trash,” Muhammad said. “He is a low life. To bring up a wife and kids, you don’t talk about somebody’s wife and kids. You don’t attack them. But then you’re going to keep doing that to copy Conor McGregor. Why? Cause you’re not original. You’re a loser. That’s one of those things like Dustin Poirier says, I’m not going to fight him in the cage, I’ll fight him in the street or I’ll fight him in the gym if I see him. Because when you’re talking about family or you’re talking about a wife and kids, it’s no longer professional. Those are fighting words.
The rest of the main card:
Middleweight - Caio Borralhovs.Gadzhi Omargadzhiev
Welterweight - Miguel Baeza vs. André FialhoWomen's
Bantamweight - Mayra Bueno Silva vs.Wu Yanan
Featherweight - Pat Sabatini vs.T.J. Laramie
Welterweight - Mounir Lazzez vs.Ange Loosa
ESPN + Prelims:
Heavyweight - Devin Clark vs. William Knight
Women's Bantamweight - Lina Länsberg vs. Pannie Kianzad
Lightweight - Drakkar Klose vs. Brandon Jenkins
Lightweight - Rafa García vs. Jesse Ronson
Heavyweight - Chris Barnett vs. Martin Buday
Lightweight - Jordan Leavitt vs. Trey Ogden
Women's Strawweight - Istela Nunes vs. Sam Hughes
Bantamweight - Heili Alateng vs. Kevin Croom
