Preview: UFC 293 Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Sydney does not offer a particularly deep card, but there are at least some prospects to watch on the UFC 293 prelims on Saturday at Qudos Bank Arena. Carlos Ulberg, the brightest potential star among them, earns the featured slot against Da Woon Jung in a fight that serves as a potential showcase. Beyond that, Jack Jenkins looks to bring another entertaining affair to the Australian faithful when he meets Jose Mariscal, and enigmatic lightweight talent Nasrat Haqparast gets another chance to show off his wares. There may not be much in terms of stakes, but all the fights figure to be entertaining on paper even before factoring in the crowd.

Now to the preview for the UFC 293 “Adesanya vs. Strickland” prelims:

Light Heavyweights

Carlos Ulberg (8-1, 4-1 UFC) vs. Da Woon Jung (15-4-1, 4-2-1 UFC)

ODDS: Ulberg (-270), Jung (+220)

Ulberg certainly seems to be hitting his stride. “Black Jag” went the Dana White’s Contender Series route to earn a UFC contract in 2020 and looked like a prospect worth getting behind. He was raw as a mixed martial artist but showed enough natural talent and striking ability—even beyond his marketability factor—to suggest he could hang at the UFC level while rounding out his game. Then his UFC debut came. Ulberg was unable to put away Kennedy Nzechukwu quickly and wound up gassing in catastrophic fashion, leaving himself open for a second-round knockout. It was nearly a year before Ulberg returned for another UFC bout, an interminable decision win over Fabio Cherant that suggested he had overcompensated for his gas tank issues to the point of near-inactivity. That turned out to be a one-fight transition period, as Ulberg has looked patient and sharp in quick knockouts wins over Tafon Nchukwi, Nicolae Negumereanu and Ihor Potieria, all historically durable fighters. His success now looks sustainable, and he looks to continue his momentum against Jung in a fight that seems to be coming at just the right time for Ulberg and just the wrong time for his South Korean opponent. Jung showed a little bit of everything during a five-fight undefeated streak to kick off his UFC career, for better and for worse. He would change things up in terms of his approach in a way that was sometimes unpredictable, but he proved good enough everywhere to get the fight over the finish line, even if a 2020 draw against Sam Alvey was a strange blip on the radar. However, Jung’s tendency to take one to give one resulted in a quick knockout loss against Dustin Jacoby in 2022, and a February defeat to Devin Clark was even more concerning. Jung fought behind a wrestling-heavy game plan that was the completely wrong approach to take to Clark and refused to switch gears, even as he coasted to a clear decision loss. Focusing on wrestling could pay some dividends this time around for Jung, but he is a hard fighter in which to have any faith at the moment, particularly since any sort of pressure figures to set him up to eat Ulberg’s increasingly accurate counterstriking. The pick is Ulberg via first-round knockout.

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Ulberg vs. Jung
Jenkins vs. Mariscal
Mullarkey vs. Makdessi
Haqparast vs. Quinones
Radtke vs. Mathetha
Young vs. Miranda
Jousset vs. Crosbie