Preview: UFC Fight Night 197 ‘Holloway vs. Rodriguez’

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Women’s Featherweights

NR | Felicia Spencer (8-3, 2-3 UFC) vs. NR | Leah Letson (5-1, 1-0 UFC)

ODDS: Spencer (-290), Letson (+245)

Spencer’s UFC career has always been a bit tenuous to an extent, if only because she has been part of a women’s featherweight division that doesn't really exist, at least to a particularly deep degree. However, Spencer figured to be well-positioned for as long as the UFC decided to keep 145-pound women around. She at least got some promotional shine in one-sided losses to Cristiane Justino and current champion Amanda Nunes, and her strong wrestling game has otherwise typically been enough to take care of most other opposition. Then came her May 22 loss to Norma Dumont, which figured to be an easy win on paper but instead saw Spencer get stalled out and beaten on the feet. The result looks a bit better after Dumont pulled off a similar approach against Aspen Ladd in October, but the setback still leaves Spencer without much of a direction, save for obviously needing a win here.

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Letson took part in the women’s featherweight bracket of “The Ultimate Fighter” in late 2018, earning her spot on the roster after beating castmate Julija Stoliarenko in her proper UFC debut. Since then, Letson was scheduled for a few fights at bantamweight that never came to fruition, and only now makes her return to the Octagon after nearly three years on the shelf. Letson still has a relatively raw approach, built around durability and power that allow her to keep marching forward and throwing offense at her opponent. That probably leaves her open enough for Spencer to get her wrestling game going, but given that Letson seems like a stout fighter and the Canadian is coming off of a particularly poor performance, that is obviously far from a guarantee. Nevertheless, the bet is that Spencer does enough to take a decision.

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