UFC Fight Night 159: Rodriguez vs Stephens - Predictions and Picks

#4 Martin Bravo vs Steven Peterson

Steven Peterson loves to be involved in a wild brawl

It’s been a tricky UFC career thus far for TUF: Latin America 3 winner Bravo. He overcame Claudio Puelles back in 2016 to win the reality show, but since then he’s only managed one fight per year and has lost both; a brutal knockout at the hands of Humberto Bandenay, and more recently (well, June 2018) he was outpointed by Alex Caceres in a brawl that saw him take a beating on the feet, but almost come back to win in the end.

Bravo is a tough fighter, evidenced by what we’ve seen so far, but Bandenay showed he can be knocked out and outside of that, it’s hard to really put a finger on exactly how good he is given his long layoffs. Thankfully for him, if he wants a brawl, Peterson is likely to give him one.

‘Ocho’ arrived in the UFC in early 2018, a surprising pickup as he lost in his lone appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series. Since then he’s gone 1-3 in the Octagon, and with a record like that, usually it’d be a surprise to see him kept around. But Peterson has the kind of fighting style that the UFC brass loves – he simply comes forward swinging no matter what – and so it’s no surprise to see him booked again.

Most recently we saw Peterson beaten by both Luis Pena and Caceres in a pair of close fights that saw him outpointed. He arguably beat Caceres, but Pena clearly beat him by simply being more skilled. As always though, Peterson refused to go away and kept on swinging until the end, and was also willing to attack with submission attempts on the ground, too.

Basically I expect this one to be a dirty brawl – it could even be the Fight of the Night – and it should come down to who’s tougher. Given Peterson has shown a ludicrous chin and has only ever been KO’d once in his career – and he’s also been fighting much more regularly – I’m willing to go with him to spoil things for Bravo’s home country fans.

The Pick: Peterson via unanimous decision