Jonathan Pearce vs Omar Morales Odds, Preview and Prediction, September 25 (9/25): UFC

Credit: photo by Jeff Bottari/Handout Photo via USA TODAY Sports

Odds

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Preview

A Featherweight fight opens the show, as Jonathan Pearce takes on Omar Morales. Pearce enters this fight off an excellent performance against Kai Kamaka III. A fight where Pearce’s wrestling and high output swarmed Kamaka III, eventually resulting in a TKO win. The victory would be Pearce’s first in the UFC, as he dropped his debut to Joe Lauzon back in October of 2019. Meanwhile, Morales bounced back in his most recent fight, defeating Shane Young. Previous to the win, Morales lost to Giga Chikadze. A defeat that would be Morales’ first professionally.

Prediction

This is an interesting clash of styles and a fight that has the ingredients to be an exciting one. Jonathan Pearce is a boxer and wrestler. Pearce has excellent cardio, using it to support the high pace and output he delivers in a fight. The one knock on Pearce is that he was rocked and finished by an old Joe Lauzon. While that fight was nearly two years ago, it’s a hard one to get out of the memory bank. Omar Morales is a pure striker, who has excellent takedown defense. Morales uses his whole arsenal on the feet, but often looks to chop down opponents with leg kicks. The knock on Morales though is a lack of output and accuracy. Thus far, being the cerebral fighter he is, Morales has only lost once in four UFC fights.

As for a prediction, I have Morales winning. While I believe that Pearce has the abilities to make this fight sloppy and win off activity, I more so liken Morales’ ability to keep this fight upright and chop down Pearce on the feet. The output of Morales needs to improve, but the aggressiveness of Pearce should allow the Venezuelan to crack ‘JSP’ with counters. In the end, I foresee Morales finishing Pearce in the third round via TKO.

PICK: Omar Morales (-150)

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