UFC Fight Night 167: Anderson vs. Blachowicz II - Predictions and Picks

#4 Brok Weaver vs. Rodrigo Vargas

Brok Weaver finally makes his UFC debut this weekend

Okay, so how this Lightweight tilt made it onto the main card of even a Fight Night over a genuinely quality clash like John Dodson vs. Nathaniel Wood is beyond me. Evidently, the UFC has a soft spot for Weaver, who is on a 7-fight win streak and signed with the promotion after a win on Dana White’s Contender Series last August. Since then he’s been signed for a previous main card fight, only to withdraw due to an injury.

Here, he faces Mexico’s Vargas, who was beaten in his UFC debut in 2019 by Alex da Silva Coelho in what was a largely forgettable fight. To be fair to Vargas, he did take that fight on late notice – meaning we may not have seen the best of him – but it’s hard to know exactly what that ‘best’ is due to a general lack of footage on him.

The footage that is available shows a fighter who’s aggressive in all areas, and who appears to be a solid athlete too. He wasn’t able to get a lot going against Coelho due to a lack of defensive grappling, but from what I’ve seen of Weaver, he’s more of a striker, meaning the Mexican shouldn’t have to worry quite so much about being held down.

I’m honestly not sure what to think here; both men are wildly unproven at the UFC level and Weaver in particular just doesn’t seem to have a lot that stands out. He’s got 8 decisions in his 14 wins and doesn’t appear to pack that much power in his strikes, rather he just seems tough and workmanlike more than anything.

That doesn’t often bode well for a UFC run, but to be fair, he’s not up against a proven UFC-level talent here meaning he could pull another grinding win out before crashing and burning as he moves further up the card. I’ll take Weaver via decision.

The Pick: Weaver via unanimous decision