MMA Preview – Carla Esparza vs Alexa Grasso at UFC Fight Night 159
THE FACTS
When is UFC Fight Night 159? Saturday 21st September, 2019 – 23:00 start (UK)
Where is UFC Fight Night 159? Mexico City Arena, Mexico City
What channel is UFC Fight Night 159? BT Sport 1
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night 159? BT Sport subscribers can stream the fight online via the BT Sport website
For viewers in the United States, the event will be shown live on ESPN+ which can you sign up to here!
Are tickets still available for UFC Fight Night 159? https://www.ufc.com/tickets
THE STATISTICS
THE LOWDOWN
Alexa Grasso has been rewarded for her exceptional performance against Karolina Kowalkiewicz with a big fight on home soil against Carla Esparza who also can’t wait to fight in Mexico City.
Grasso is 3-2 in the UFC but she has fought some of the best strawweights in the world, losing only to Felice Herrig which was a controversial decision and Tatiana Suarez who is mauling the division at the moment. She is only 26 years old and continuing to evolve as we saw in her last fight. She is a solid grappler but stood and traded with the stand-up specialist Kowalkiewicz and outclassed her to earn a unanimous decision.
Esparza is one of the most experienced strawweights in the world and is the first ever UFC strawweight champion who has earned her success with phenomenal wrestling. However, she lost a close split decision to fellow grappler Claudia Gadelha and was swallowed up and finished with ground-and-pound by Suarez. However, she bounced back with he seventh decision win of her career in her last fight against UFC newcomer Virna Jandiroba.
THE PREDICTION
Grasso has the ability to surprise everyone as she gets better with every fight. If she can keep the fight on the feet she can light Esparza up like she did against Kowalkiewicz using constant movement and technical combinations.
However, we are likely to see a classic Esparza performance where she will hunt the takedown and look to keep Grasso on the mat for as long as possible, racking up the points until the bell sounds.
Winner: Esparza via Decision
Striking and grappling stats sourced via FightMetric.
