UFC Fight Night 164: Blachowicz vs. Jacare - Predictions and Picks

#5 Markus Perez vs. Wellington Turman

Wellington Turman lost a controversial decision to Karl Roberson in his UFC debut

This battle of Brazilian Welterweights might not be heavy on name value but it should at least give us some excitement. Turman’s debut was nothing to write home about – he was controversially beaten by Karl Roberson in June – but prior to that he’d racked up 15 wins, with just 4 of them going the distance.

Perez meanwhile is a finisher, whether that’s via strikes or submissions, and he’s aggressive to a fault. His 2-2 record in the UFC is a bit of an outlier actually in that he’s far more talented than it might suggest. Eryk Anders beat him largely by being able to hit him very hard, while Andrew Sanchez basically just held him in the clinch, but the fact that his last fight before his UFC debut saw him submit the ultra-tough Ian Heinisch should tell you a lot.

He’ll almost definitely be the more explosive fighter in this battle. Turman has somewhat of a plodding style on the feet as compared to Perez’s more aggressive and sharp striking, and he relies largely on takedowns from the clinch to muscle his opponent down and look to take their back for a submission.

Against Roberson that tactic served him well; Roberson was awarded the fight by split decision, but in all honesty Turman should probably have had his hand raised due to the dominant positions he was able to gain on the ground. The issue here though is that Roberson was a kickboxer with little ground experience, while Perez is a genuine Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.

Could Turman channel Sanchez’s gameplan and simply stifle Perez in the clinch for a decision? I’m not convinced he can. Sanchez is a tremendous wrestler and a high-level athlete while Turman honestly isn’t, and I’m not sure that he has the movement needed to corral Perez against the fence, either.

In the end I just feel like Perez is the slightly better athlete and the slightly more skilled fighter in all areas, so I’m taking him to win this one probably by decision, although to see him finish Turman late in the fight wouldn’t be a surprise.

The Pick: Perez via unanimous decision