UFC Fight Night: Ketlen Vieira vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti Preview & Prediction
A potential changing of the guard moment at women's bantamweight pits the surging Jacqueline Cavalcanti against Ketlen Vieira.
Ketlen Vieira vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti facts
What time are Ketlen Vieira and Jacqueline Cavalcanti expected to walk out?
Where is UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa? Meta Apex, Enterprise, USA
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC Fight Nigh 276
What TV channel is UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa on? UK – TNT Sports / USA – Paramount
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa? UK – TNT Sports can stream the event online via the TNT Sports website and HBO Max / USA – Paramount+ & UFC Fight Pass
UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa main card
Arnold Allen vs Melquizael Costa (Featherweight)
Choi Doo Ho vs Daniel Santos (Featherweight)
Malcolm Wellmaker vs Juan Diaz (Bantamweight)
Modestas Bukauskas vs Rodolfo Bellato (Light Heavyweight)
Timothy Cuamba vs Bernardo Sopaj (Bantamweight)
UFC Fight Night 276: Allen vs Costa prelims
Tuco Tokkos vs Ivan Erslan (Light Heavyweight)
Trey Ogden vs Thomas Gantt (Lightweight)
Ketlen Vieira vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti (Women’s Bantamweight)
Cody Brundage vs Andre Petroski (Middleweight)
Alice Ardelean vs Polyana Viana (Women’s Strawweight)
Daniel Barez vs Luis Gurule (Flyweight)
Shauna Bannon vs Nicolle Caliari (Women’s Strawweight)
Khaos Williams vs Nikolay Veretennikov (Welterweight)
Ketlen Vieira: Can "Fenomeno" defend her spot in the rankings?
Poised to make her fifteenth walk to the cage under the UFC banner, Ketlen Vieira (15-5) has been with the promotion for just shy of a decade. A well-rounded competitor who has fought a who’s-who of the names at 135 pounds, “Fenomeno” has shared the cage with WMMA royalty in the vein of Kayla Harrison, Holly Holm, and Miesha Tate to name but a few. She’s coming off a controversial loss to Norma Dumont in her most recent appearance, dropping a decision where she failed to land any meaningful offense despite controlling Dumont for the majority of the contest.
Jacqueline Cavalcanti: Will the Portuguese prospect score the biggest win of her career?
Currently occupying the No. 11 spot in the women’s bantamweight rankings, Jacqueline Cavalcanti (9-1) looks to break into the division’s Top 5 with a win on Saturday night. A high volume Muay Thai striker, the Portuguese prospect has been perfect throughout her UFC run to date, posting a 5-0 record leading into her sixth fight with the promotion. Last seen battering Mayra Bueno Silva en route to a unanimous decision victory last November, Cavalcanti could well find her name in title contention in the near future given the shallow competition that this division has to offer current champion, Kayla Harrison.
Ketlen Vieira vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti prediction
While she has yet to beat a legitimate contender at 135 pounds, Cavalcanti has the look of a future title challenger about her. Outside of a close fight with Nora Cornolle, the Portuguese fighter has largely run through her UFC competition to date, landing at an excellent clip and displaying solid takedown defense to boot.
Vieira’s last fight against Norma Dumont may have come with its fair share of controversy but it proved that stalling against the fence or lying on top of her opponent inflicting zero damage isn’t necessarily going to influence the judges in her favour. Even if they were, “Fenomeno’s” takedown accuracy of just 44% isn’t enough to convince me that she’s about to put on a wrestling clinic here.
Vieira looked tentative and reluctant to engage throughout the entire contest with Dumont, something that bodes ill when faced with a striker of Cavalcanti’s output. As such, this looks primed to be a changing of the guard moment for women’s bantamweight, with Cavalcanti out landing Vieira across three rounds en route to a convincing unanimous decision victory.
Prediction: Jacqueline Cavalcanti to win by decision
