Vancouver, BC in Canada is the scene for this week’s UFC Fight night a production scheduled for thirteen bouts, four of which will be fought at 170lbs. or higher. A large 30’ octagon will be in use and the Canadian crowd, as passionate as any in the world will be out if force to support their compatriots.
Prelims drop at 1pm PST with the main slate at 4pm PST.
Renier De Ritter -195 vs. Brandon Allen +170 Middleweight (185lbs.) main event
Brandon Allen steps in on short notice to take Fluffy Hernandez’s position on this main event.
With a background in wrestling and boxing Allen took to BJJ at a young age and developed his skills through amateur fighting and eventually the Legacy circuit as an early pro.
Allen’s grappling is his base strength. He is crafty, determined and once able to clasp onto the opponent, he becomes nasty and enveloping while forcing them against the fence then ultimately down to the floor for a roll.
Allen’s striking is nominal as evidenced by his negative significant strike differential but in this fight he’ll actually have the more refined striking game simply because his opponent is less skilled in the striking aspect of mixed martial arts weaponry than he.
That stated, Allen will be giving away two inches of height and four inches of reach to his adversary not to mention at least ten to fifteen pounds come fight night so any technical striking advantage Allen may have on the feet will more than likely be squelched by the size, length, and aggression of De Ritter.
Renier De Ritter is now four fights into his UFC career. He enters this main event ranked fourth in the division and off four straight victories, his last a dominating performance over former champion Robert Whittaker.
A decorated world class grappler with only nominal striking acumen, de Ritter, a black belt in both Judo and BJJ will be efficient in trying to clasp onto Allen and initiate a grappling competition.
In the clasp and in tight quarters is where De Ritter must take this fight in order to win it. De Ritter’s massive size will position him to be in great advantage over Allen once engaged based on his technical expertise, grappling acumen size and world class Judo/BJJ.
On the feet, De Ritters striking is base, there is no snap on his strikes only pawing at this evolution of his game and his ability to evade strikes is in development also. De Ritter will need to transition this fight from striking into groping as soon as he possible.
As strong and confident as Allen is about his grappling he must not allow himself to fall into the challenge of grappling this grappler.
The de Ritter blueprint for success as well as the blueprint for dominating this eighth ranked opponent will be to immediately engage in grappling.
I believe Allen will eventually have to accommodate him and from there it will be fascinating to view Allen’s BJJ and ground game against De Ritters.
De Ritter -195
Total in this fight: 3.5Rds Under -140
Lean Over
Charles Jourdain -195 vs. Davey Grant +165 Bantamweight (135lbs.)
After losing two featherweight fights in 2024 Canadian fighter Charles Jourdain, a mixed martial artist decorated with a black belt in BJJ moved to the lower bantamweight division to try to resuscitate his career.
In his last outing he won his inaugural fight in that division against a journeyman athlete and now looks to add to that momentum by competing against a well more formidable opponent in England’s Davey Grant.
Jourdain’s an inch taller and a decade younger than his English opponent which provides us a glimpse of why the money has moved toward Jourdain the local fighter. Jourdain will be the slicker, faster athlete in the cage and one who uses the switch stance to great effect in this battle as he tries to keep the incoming slugger from Briton away from him.
Jourdain’s primarily a striking based athlete who sports a positive significant strike differential but his grappling/wrestling skills namely his takedown defense is poor, which may be a significant factor in this fight.
Davey Grant does not fight like a thirty-nine-year-old. Grant’s significant strikes per five minutes of fight time overshadow the miniscule ratio of Jourdain and despite the fact that Grant is a decade older, his feet, movement, durability and especially his power are all significant contributors to Grant’s success.
This bout sets up to be waged on the feet but with that in mind I handicap the forceful forward striking pressure and determination of Grant to be more founded and sounder than the volume striking and kicking of his Canadian counterpart.
Jourdain’s tactic will be of the ‘stick and move’ category for he does not want to grapple nor stand toe-to-toe with Grant.
Jourdain opened a -200 chalk then went immediately to pick-em before the market pushed the price on Jourdain back up to its current price of -170.
This fight will be as electric as any on the card. Jourdain’s youth and his fighting in front of his fellow Canadians will provide him certain edge while Grant’s experience, level of competition faced, wrestling and dead power will provide him his advantage.
I handicap Grant’s grappling to be a determining factor in this bout.
Grant +165
Total in this fight: 2.5 over -195
Friday morning the ‘Bout Business Podcast drops at GambLou.com, catch all my final releases for UFC FN Vancouver there.
Thank You for reading and enjoy the fights!