Preview: UFC on ESPN 34 Prelims

Lightweights

NR | Trey Ogden (15-4, 0-0 UFC) vs. NR | Jordan Leavitt (9-1, 2-1 UFC)

BETUS ODDS: Ogden (-130), Leavitt (+100)

If nothing else, Leavitt should continue to be an entertaining entrant in the UFC’s lightweight division. “The Monkey King” is a talented artist in the grappling realm, as evidenced by his contract-earning win over Luke Flores on Dana White’s Contender Series and slam knockout of Matt Wiman in his UFC debut, but his June loss to Claudio Puelles did expose the one-notice nature of Leavitt’s game. Faced with another strong grappler, Leavitt simply did not have much to offer on the feet over 15 minutes. Still, Leavitt got back to his winning ways with a second-round submission of Matt Sayles in December and looks to keep things rolling here against a promotional newcomer in Ogden. A pro since 2015, Ogden has a solid game, based mostly around outwrestling and outgrappling his opponents. He is a more powerful athlete than Leavitt, which could serve him well in this pairing, but he does look like the type of opponent who will charge right into the best parts of the Syndicate MMA rep’s game and be worse off for it. Leavitt’s approach is somewhat low-percentage at its core, so he is far from an iron-clad lock. Nevertheless, the pick is Leavitt via second-round submission.

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