Preview: UFC 286 Prelims

Lightweights

Omar Morales (11-3, 3-3 UFC) vs. Chris Duncan (9-1, 0-0 UFC)

ODDS: Morales (-125), Duncan (+105)

The last few years have been a rollercoaster for Duncan. After the Scotsman’s fight on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021 was scuttled due to his opponent’s weight issues, Duncan was briefly tabbed for an outright UFC call-up before the promotion pivoted to rebooking him on DWCS, which made it all the more frustrating when he suffered a knockout loss to Viacheslav Borshchev. However, things worked out for Duncan a year later, as he scored a quick knockout win of his own in a return engagement on the show in August. He draws an interesting first test against Venezuela’s Morales, who has hit a frustrating skid in the last few years. Coming off DWCS in in 2019, Morales was an interesting talent to track, as he showed some potential as a rangy and sharp striker but had a sparse regional career and was already in his mid-30s. Morales looked good in wins over Dong Hyun Ma and Gabriel Benitez before a surprising cut down to 145 pounds seemingly derailed his career. It was impressive that Morales was able to make it down to featherweight given his frame, but the change mostly allowed faster opponents to swamp him with pressure. When Morales returned back to lightweight a shade under a year ago, he still did not look particularly impressive against a fellow large 155er in Uros Medic. Given that Morales is now 37 years old, this could just be the new normal, but there is also the potential that he can regain some of his past form against a more traditional slugger like Duncan. Still, with nothing clicking for the Venezuelan at the moment, this looks like a fight where the UFC newcomer can jump on some early success and ride things from there, if not score an outright finish. The pick is Duncan via first-round knockout.

Jump To »
Shore vs. Amirkhani
Morales vs. Duncan
Patterson vs. Ashmoz
Mokaev vs. Filho
Murphy vs. Santos
Duncan vs. Todorovic
Hadley vs. Gordon
Wood vs. Carolina
Klein vs. Herbert
Miller vs. Macedo