The
Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday slides back into the
UFC Apex in Las Vegas with
UFC Fight Night 251, and it provides a decent preliminary
slate. Angela Hill
returns to action in the featured spot, as the women’s strawweight
stalwart takes on Ketlen
Souza—the latest 115-pound hopeful to try to use the former
Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder as a steppingstone
to contention. However, the best bout of the bunch might be the
intriguing welterweight affair between Gabriel
Bonfim and Kalinn
Williams, which should end violently at some point. Beyond
that, high-upside bantamweight prospect Elijah
Smith makes his promotional debut, and ranked women’s
bantamweights clash in a well-matched battle pitting Julia Avila
against Jacqueline
Cavalcanti.
Now to the preview for the UFC Vegas 102 prelims:
Women’s Strawweights
Angela
Hill (17-14, 12-14 UFC) vs. Ketlen
Souza (15-4, 2-1 UFC)
ODDS: Hill (-112), Souza (-108)
Back on gatekeeper duty for this fight, Hill chugs along as the
utility player for the UFC’s strawweight division. Hill got thrown
to the wolves almost immediately upon starting her mixed martial
arts career, winding up on “The Ultimate Fighter” after one career
appearance and subsequently facing Tecia
Pennington and Rose
Namajunas. “Overkill” proved to be a quick study. She was
released after the loss to Namajunas, only to rack up four wins
inside of a year and punch her return ticket back to the UFC. Hill
has since honed her craft over the subsequent eight years to the
point that she’s a perennial tough out, even though she has never
quite racked up the momentum to truly get into the title picture.
She just isn’t the level of athlete or finisher to put on a lot of
dominant performances, and she has shown a singularly amazing knack
for being on the losing end of close decisions just as her career
has needed it the most. Even so, Hill continues to improve—she
earned her first submission win over Luana
Pinheiro in 2024—and fill in wherever the UFC needs her,
whether that’s being one-half of a UFC Fight Night main event
against a fellow established veteran or simply testing the next
prospect coming up the ranks. This bout against Souza is clearly
the latter, as the Brazilian comes off a surprising breakout win
over Yazmin
Jauregui in September.
Souza had a bit of hype thanks to a solid winning streak ahead of
her UFC arrival in 2023, but her career inside the Octagon got off
to a disappointing start. Karine
Silva quickly shredded Souza’s knee in her UFC debut, and her
comeback fight against Marnic Mann
was an unimpressive decision victory against a completely
overmatched opponent. Souza’s bout against Jauregui seemed set up
to be a clear victory for her counterpart. That was until
Jauregui’s historical problems came home to roost. Jauregui tends
to start cold and get caught early, and Souza did just that in
stunning the Mexican prospect and quickly jumping on a submission.
That shows how dangerous Souza can be at her best, but this is a
challenge Hill has passed many times before. It was only a year and
a half ago that Denise
Gomes, another Brazilian coming off a similar win against
Jauregui, was matched against Hill and quickly ran out of ideas.
The pick is Hill via decision.
Jump To »
Hill vs. Souza
Gordon vs. Ruziboev
Estevam vs. Aguilar
Bonfim vs. Williams
Smith vs. Morales
Walker vs. Mayes
Cavalcanti vs. Avila
