Preview: UFC Fight Night 231 Prelims

Bantamweights

Victor Hugo Silva (24-4) vs. Daniel Marcos (15-0)

ODDS: Marcos (-250), Hugo (+205)

It's been an impressive year-plus for Peru's Marcos; expectations weren't high when he returned from a nearly three-year layoff to compete on the Contender Series last year, but he showed up in much-improved form and has kept up that momentum since. Marcos still isn't the cleanest fighter, but he's dogged with his pressure and hard to take off his game; he eventually wound up taking Saimon Oliveira apart in January, and kept things up enough to score a controversial decision win over Davey Grant in July. For the third straight fight, Marcos fights in his opponent's home country, this time taking on Brazilian newcomer Hugo. "Striker" doesn't appear to be a fitting nickname for the Contender Series alum, as Hugo's most prominent fights to date have seen him find success as an aggressive wrestler and submission artist; he's been able to find some low-percentage leg submissions in his last two fights, but he's also more than willing to simply cling to his opponent for three rounds if it's a clear path to victory. That might work here, but the lean is that Marcos finds enough moments of activity to get the nod, even if this could be an ugly fight in the aggregate; the pick is Marcos via decision.

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