Talita Alencar (5-1-1, 1-1 UFC) vs. Vanessa Demopoulos (11-6, 5-3 UFC)
ODDS: Alencar (-112), Demopoulos (-108)
This should be an interesting mirror match of sorts. Demopoulos has been an entertaining character on the UFC’s undercards, overachieving with a game that figured to be perennially broken. Stocky and muscular but with some impressive flexibility due to her background in pole dancing, she can do some tricky things on the mat but is otherwise somewhat awkward. Nevertheless, Demopoulos has made it work, developing credible enough boxing to take advantage of her horsepower and using the threat of her grappling to slow things down. Demopoulos was on a bit of a run, winning five out of six fights, which made her quick submission loss to Jaqueline Amorim in September a bit of a disappointment, even if she rightfully complained about the Brazilian grabbing her glove to set up the fight-ending armbar. At any rate, she looks to rebound in a similar matchup against Alencar, another undersized Brazilian grappler. Alencar is a clear standout on the ground and a promising athlete, but she’s a bit stuck at the moment—obviously raw as a mixed martial artist while also being on the older side for a convert to her new sport. That has led to some of the issues you would expect, mainly that Alencar still has not shown much of an ability to regulate her gas tank if a quick finish fails to appear, fading down the stretch in her fights on both the Contender Series and inside the UFC. Alencar certainly won’t fear Demopoulos on the mat, so there’s a chance that she gets things done quickly in a similar manner to Amorim. Still, Demopoulos does seem to be running a much more consistent and powerful version of the same game. The pick is Demopoulos via decision.
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