UFC332 comes with a slate of nine prelims featuring someinteresting matchups. The featured spot sees two rising flyweightssquare off, as ImanolRodriguez and Alden Coriaeach look to avoid their first Ultimate Fighting Championship loss. Talented prospects such asDamianPinas, AnthonyWint and JacobeSmith are all back in action, but the most important stakesmight belong to a few veterans deeper down the card, as JohnnyWalker, Rafael dosAnjos and MarvinVettori all look to prove that they’re still relevant. Andgiven that the UFC is back in Utah, it’s unsurprising to seeCourtMcGee on the card, as he has his retirement fight againstEricNolan.
Odds: Rodriguez (-162), Coria (+136)
Some strong matchmaking here, as two of the UFC’s best flyweightprospects square off. ImanolRodriguez was tabbed as one of the prospects to watch when the2025 edition of TUF was announced, and it was easy to see why;blessed with a physique befitting his “Himan” nickname, Rodriguezwas an absolute terror who ran through his opponents with animpressive combination of striking and grappling. Even thoughRodriguez was eliminated in the semifinal, he still lived up to thehype in a way; he fought eventual winner JosephMorales to a coin flip of a decision, and Morales has sinceestablished himself as roughly a Top-10 UFC flyweight. As forRodriguez, the UFC quickly rebooked him on the Contender Series forwhat turned out to be a quick win, and his proper UFC debut thispast February was also quite impressive; he ran into some sharpoffense from KevinBorjas but showed the ability to regroup and eventually findthe finish in the second round.
Up next for Rodriguez is a potentially tough matchup against Texas’AldenCoria, who has had a successful UFC career thus far despiteentering with little in the way of expectations. Coria’slate-notice UFC debut about a year ago was basically anafterthought, though he showed up in impressive fashion, takingapart consistent veteran AlessandroCosta en route to a third-round stoppage. But “Cobra” has had astrange 2026, both in terms of matchmaking and performances; theUFC has seemingly moved him down the ladder with matchups againstLuisGurule and StewartNicoll, and Coria has looked fine but not outstanding.
Both fights were clear Coria victories but showed that he might notbe the most dynamic force when an opponent doesn’t provide muchopportunity. He can be sharp when an opponent decides to lead butdoesn’t do much to break the fight open in a slower-paced affair.That won’t be a worry here against an aggressive wrecking ball likeRodriguez, and this is basically a coin flip; Rodriguez has a clearadvantage in terms of horsepower, but Coria is accurate and doggedenough to stand his ground and cause a ton of damage if Rodriguezgets a bit too wild with his pressure. But at the end of the day,it’s hard to pick against Rodriguez’s elite athleticism,particularly since Coria’s wrestling defense is still somewhat of aquestion mark; the pick is Rodriguez via decision.
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Rodriguez vs. Coria
Pinas vs. Pulyaev
McGhee vs. Sopai
Wint vs. Armand
Walker vs. Parkin
Dos Anjos vs. Hernandez
Vettori vs. Naurdiev
McGee vs. Nolan
Smith vs. Whitehead
Odds: Pinas (-500), Pulyaev (+380)
DamianPinas is one of the more interesting recent additions to theUFC’s middleweight division, particularly after his lastperformance. Representing Aruba, “The Baba Yaga” impressed in bothhis Contender Series win and UFC debut but was still generallythought of as a raw talent who needed more seasoning; Pinas showedsome destructive knockout power once he got going but didn’t answera lot of questions beyond that in short fights against overmatchedcompetition.
The UFC’s decision to match Pinas with experienced kickboxerCesarAlmeida this past July clearly seemed like too much too soon,as Almeida was a much defter striker who had never been knocked outduring his combat sports career — but that only made it all themore impressive when Pinas knocked him out within a round.Admittedly, Pinas didn’t accomplish much up until the knockout, butif he can continue to pick his spots effectively while hitting likea truck, he might be readier for the big time sooner than anyonecould have expected.
AndreyPulyaev is a bit of a lateral move, though the Russian hasproven to be a frustrating test for most of his UFC opposition.Pulyaev is lanky and durable, and his willingness to stay at rangeand pick at his opponents has resulted in some talented foesgetting dragged into fights that were uglier than expected. Ofcourse, Pulyaev himself has struggled to turn those craftyperformances into actual wins against most of his high-levelcompetition, and banking on durability doesn’t seem like a greatidea after Pinas’ last knockout win. Pulyaev could make thisfrustrating for a bit, but Pinas figures to pound him into oblivionat some point; the pick is Pinas via second-round knockout.
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Rodriguez vs. Coria
Pinas vs. Pulyaev
McGhee vs. Sopai
Wint vs. Armand
Walker vs. Parkin
Dos Anjos vs. Hernandez
Vettori vs. Naurdiev
McGee vs. Nolan
Smith vs. Whitehead
Odds: McGhee (-148), Sopai (+124)
This wasn’t a particularly obvious matchup, but it at least servesas a solid benchmark for where each man stands in late 2026.MarcusMcGhee stepped in on late notice for his UFC debut in 2023 andimmediately became an intriguing prospect. A longtime amateur whogot a late start to his professional career, “The Maniac” isclearly an elite-tier athlete with a solid bag of skills, thoughhis application is a bit fascinating; McGhee doesn’t seem like muchof a game planner, instead taking his time to feel things out fromround to round until he lands on a winning idea.
That resulted in McGhee crushing some limited opposition early inhis UFC career, but his performances have been a mixed bag now thathe’s consistently fighting stronger competition; his fight againstJonathanMartinez saw neither man figure out a way to crack the fightopen, and he wasn’t able to make much headway against currentbantamweight champion Petr Yan. EvenMcGhee’s clear bounce-back win over John Yanniswas a bit disappointing; McGhee took the decision handily, butYannis fought a thoughtful enough fight to limit McGhee in terms ofimpactful moments.
Up next for McGhee is BernardoSopai, a solid talent who somewhat unexpectedly gets this shotto break into the rankings. Sopai started his career as a teenagerand looked surprisingly solid on the regional scene; he could be abit overly patient at times, but “The Lion King” combined power andpoise well enough that he seemed ready to make an impact at the UFClevel. But his three fights in the UFC thus far have been a mixedbag, with Sopai’s gas tank standing out as a major concern; nolonger able to dictate the pace of his fights, he has faded badlyin the third round when forced to keep up a tough fight formultiple frames.
In his UFC debut, this resulted in him getting annihilated byViniciusOliveira, but he was at least able to hang on against RickyTurcios in his next fight — and then finished Timmy Cuambabefore that ever became an issue. McGhee might not force a torridpace, but he cycles through enough ideas with enough horsepowerthat he should be able to outlast Sopai in the long run; the pickis McGhee via third-round stoppage.
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Rodriguez vs. Coria
Pinas vs. Pulyaev
McGhee vs. Sopai
Wint vs. Armand
Walker vs. Parkin
Dos Anjos vs. Hernandez
Vettori vs. Naurdiev
McGee vs. Nolan
Smith vs. Whitehead
Odds: Wint (-400), Armand (+310) The UFC often doesn’t give itsprospects enough fights to stay busy, but that’s certainly not aproblem with AnthonyWint, who steps in for his second UFC fight after signing hiscontract less than two months ago. A former standout linebacker atFlorida International who spent a season in the NFL, Wint hasimpressed thus far in his professional career, running through mostof his opposition with a combination of sheer horsepower and hishigh school wrestling background.
There are some potential red flags, as Wint is undersized for thedivision, lacks defensive awareness and hasn’t gotten the chance toovercome much adversity, but there’s still a strong chance thatsomething interesting shakes out as Wint continues his career. Itwould be nice to see Wint get a benchmark against some heavyweightsalready on the UFC roster, but for the second straight time, thepromotion has signed a newcomer to face him — in this case,Michigan’s LucasArmand.
Armand has faced a particularly poor level of regional competition,so it’s hard to make much out of his undefeated record; his filmdoesn’t look particularly impressive, but he clearly has therequisite heavyweight size and, assuming his durability holds up,he could prove to be a tough out for some heavyweight prospects.But for now, there’s not much to suggest that he’s ready to take onan aggressive bowling ball like Wint; the pick is Wint viafirst-round knockout.
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Rodriguez vs. Coria
Pinas vs. Pulyaev
McGhee vs. Sopai
Wint vs. Armand
Walker vs. Parkin
Dos Anjos vs. Hernandez
Vettori vs. Naurdiev
McGee vs. Nolan
Smith vs. Whitehead
Odds: Walker (-135), Parkin (+114)
JohnnyWalker looks for a fresh start here at heavyweight, and whetheror not it works is anyone’s guess. Walker took the UFC by storm in2018; a gigantic athlete with some strange charisma, the Braziliancombined violence and showmanship in spectacular fashion, winninghis first three UFC bouts in less than three minutes combined — andthen injuring himself during a post-fight celebration.
Upon his return, there quickly arose concerns that Walker was aflash in the pan; CoreyAnderson blew through all the defensive holes in Walker’s wildapproach to score a quick knockout, while NikitaKrylov outwrestled him without much difficulty. Walker suffereda major injury shortly thereafter, moving to Ireland and changingup his training during a yearlong layoff — but it’s hard to saythat the change was for the best.
All the wild aggression was taken out of Walker’s game, leaving himto rely on his size and intimidation while he attempted to staypatient and strike from range; theoretically, this would takeadvantage of Walker’s long frame, but in practice, it just seemedto leave him frozen while attempting to temper his naturalaggression, resulting in him getting knocked out whenever opponentstried to force the issue. Walker has still managed to find theoccasional win against opponents capable of imploding, but after aparticularly terrible fight against DominickReyes in which each man refused to lead, he now moves up toheavyweight against MickParkin.
Freshly turned 31, Parkin seems to be one of the more underratedheavyweights in the UFC, particularly after a long layoff has madehim a bit of a forgotten man. England’s Parkin mostly leaned on hissize to rack up wins at a regional level but has proven to be asurprisingly deft striker during his five-fight UFC career; Parkinisn’t particularly dynamic or pretty, but he can plug away withsolid power at a solid pace, with some decent wrestling to backthings up.
Parkin is fairly hittable, so this could wind up as a rough matchupfor the Englishman, particularly if he’s thrown off at all byWalker’s frame; even at heavyweight, the Brazilian can cut auniquely intimidating figure. But provided he can steel himselfenough to apply some consistent pressure, Parkin should be durableenough to eventually take advantage whenever Walker slips up andsend him careening off the rails; the pick is Parkin viasecond-round knockout.
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Rodriguez vs. Coria
Pinas vs. Pulyaev
McGhee vs. Sopai
Wint vs. Armand
Walker vs. Parkin
Dos Anjos vs. Hernandez
Vettori vs. Naurdiev
McGee vs. Nolan
Smith vs. Whitehead
Odds: Hernandez (-258), dos Anjos (+210)
Where is Rafael dosAnjos in 2026? Dos Anjos feels like one of the more underratedfigures in UFC history, now a decade removed from what should beconsidered his peak. “RDA” signed with the promotion in 2008 andhad a particularly rough start, losing his first two bouts and thenstruggling to find a consistent foothold as a contender. But heeventually honed a consistent pressure game that was on the cuttingedge of the sport, marching up the ranks to earn a lightweighttitle shot against AnthonyPettis in 2015.
It figured to be a stay-busy title defense for Pettis as heestablished himself as one of the UFC’s stars, but dos Anjosinstead put him through the grinder for five rounds, becoming anunlikely champion. Unfortunately, dos Anjos’ reign wasn’t much; heran through DonaldCerrone in short order but lost out on a ConorMcGregor matchup due to injury before losing the belt toEddieAlvarez in his second defense.
After a subsequent loss to TonyFerguson left him frozen out of the lightweight title picture,dos Anjos decided to ply his trade at 170 pounds, and it’s a creditto his skills that he was able to make himself a welterweight titlecontender within a year, charging to the top of his new divisionbefore getting stifled by ColbyCovington and KamaruUsman. From there, dos Anjos spent half a decade as agatekeeper to the elite in two divisions, having a lot of successwhile also running into a clear ceiling; he was undersized atwelterweight but unable to maintain his cardio whenever he cut downto lightweight.
And in recent years, there was a bit of worry that the wheels werestarting to fall off in his late 30s — until that literallyhappened, with dos Anjos suffering a major knee injury in anOctober 2024 loss to Geoff Neal.Two years later, dos Anjos finally makes his return, somewhatsurprisingly cutting down to 155 pounds to take on AlexanderHernandez.
Hernandez was one of the UFC’s breakout fighters in 2018, comingout of nowhere to knock out BeneilDariush and outpace OlivierAubin-Mercier; the expectation was that he could announcehimself as a lightweight contender in 2019, but he instead suffereda career-altering loss to DonaldCerrone, who picked apart Hernandez’s aggressive approachbefore scoring a second-round knockout.
The result seemed to permanently shatter Hernandez’s confidence,resulting in a clear divide where he could crush athleticallyovermatched competition but folded under pressure, only finallygetting over those issues at some point in the next two years.Hernandez still hasn’t recaptured the aggressive form that made himsuch a hot prospect, but he’s made things work as a powerfulpot-shotter who often feels like he’s in control of the fight —though RafaGarcia‘s bull-headed pressure was enough to break Hernandez’sfour-fight winning streak this past April.
The lean is that dos Anjos still has enough doggedness anddurability left in the tank to make this a tough fight forHernandez, but the athletic gap is too wide to ignore —particularly with dos Anjos now on the wrong side of 40 after amajor injury layoff. The pick is Hernandez via decision.
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Rodriguez vs. Coria
Pinas vs. Pulyaev
McGhee vs. Sopai
Wint vs. Armand
Walker vs. Parkin
Dos Anjos vs. Hernandez
Vettori vs. Naurdiev
McGee vs. Nolan
Smith vs. Whitehead
Odds: Naurdiev (-142), Vettori (+120)
MarvinVettori could badly use a win here. The fighting pride ofItaly, Vettori hit his groove around 2019 and marched his way upthe ranks to a title shot against IsraelAdesanya in 2021; “The Italian Dream” didn’t get much done inthat spot, but it was at least a testament to the reliablybull-headed combination of aggression and durability that Vettoribrought to his fights.
Both that loss and another defeat to RobertWhittaker a year later showed that Vettori’s pressure could beoutfoxed technically, so with Vettori facing a clear ceiling, it’sunderstandable that he would want to mix things up — though thosechanges might not have been for the best. Vettori is trying tofight as a slicker fighter, and frankly, it just hasn’t worked onmany levels; he’s not a powerful enough puncher to make up for alower output, and there tends to be a lot of paralysis by analysisthat takes Vettori out of his fights.
On the plus side, Vettori’s granite chin has remained intact, andthere’s still the chance he can turn things around at 33 years old— though that needs to start here against IsmailNaurdiev. Naurdiev’s first UFC run, consisting of four fightsfrom 2019 to 2020, was full of highs and lows; he looked sharp inauthoring a massive upset of welterweight veteran MichelPrazeres, but his next fight saw him get upset in a frustratingloss to ChanceRencountre.
After a one-sided loss to Sean Brady,Naurdiev left the UFC to try to evolve his skills — which didn’treally happen, but still somehow led to a UFC return in 2024 thatseemed to take everyone off guard. Now at middleweight, Naurdiev isaimless in his approach, which can cost him against a more focusedfighter, but he has generally looked solid in terms of throwing outa lot of sharp strikes, even if there’s a general feeling that he’sjust throwing out ideas and hoping for the best.
Vettori would have been a clear pick at most points in his careerbut seems lost enough at the moment that it’s hard to trust himhere; the pick is Naurdiev via decision.
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Rodriguez vs. Coria
Pinas vs. Pulyaev
McGhee vs. Sopai
Wint vs. Armand
Walker vs. Parkin
Dos Anjos vs. Hernandez
Vettori vs. Naurdiev
McGee vs. Nolan
Smith vs. Whitehead
Odds: Nolan (-238), McGee (+195)
Utah native Court McGeecalls it a career here, getting a hometown retirement fight in afairly even matchup. The winner of TUF all the way back in 2010,McGee was and remains easy to root for, owing to his openness abouthis struggles with drug addiction and his use of his platform tohelp others wherever he can.
Inside the cage, “The Crusher” has chugged along as much the samefighter over the last decade and a half. McGee has always beentechnically sound and naturally strong, but his lack of high-levelathleticism always gave him a clear ceiling — only for that to turninto a bit of a strength later in his career, as there was no lossof athleticism for McGee to overcome.
McGee’s durability and lack of knockout power typically meant thathis fights were three rounds of hard work, but after some worriesthat his durability was starting to fade, McGee put in the mostdefinitive performance of his UFC career as part of the promotion’s2024 trip to Utah, overwhelming Tim Means andfinding a quick submission.
McGee’s next performance was quite forgettable, as he and MichaelChiesa combined for a lackluster striking match between twograpplers, but he looks to recapture that 2024 form one last timeagainst Eric Nolan.Nolan is a solid prospect who has been put in a tough spot duringhis UFC career, essentially being brought in to lose; the UFC firstmatched him up on late notice against top prospect BaisangurSusurkaev, then had him face top Azerbaijani prospect FarmanHasanov as part of its latest trip to Baku.
Nolan looks to play spoiler here once again, and while he’sprobably the smarter pick, McGee has enough of an early openingthat it’s hard to go against the sentimental choice; the pick isMcGee via first-round submission.
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Rodriguez vs. Coria
Pinas vs. Pulyaev
McGhee vs. Sopai
Wint vs. Armand
Walker vs. Parkin
Dos Anjos vs. Hernandez
Vettori vs. Naurdiev
McGee vs. Nolan
Smith vs. Whitehead
Odds: Smith (-1000), Whitehead (+600)
The matchmaking here is a bit confusing, but it’s at least nice tosee JacobeSmith back in action. A former collegiate wrestling standoutand elite athlete, Smith looks the part of an elite prospect andhas lived up to that so far with his undefeated record; there aresome defensive holes in Smith’s game, and he clearly doesn’t knowwhat he doesn’t know, but he busts out enough impressively dynamictechniques that it’s hard not to get excited about what he could bein the long run.
Given that Smith is already 30, it made sense that the UFC wouldmatch him up with KevinHolland this past July in an attempt to see if “Cobe” couldalready hang at a high level. But a Holland injury scuttled thoseplans, and the UFC opted against Smith fighting on that card —presumably to get him another big test. Instead, Holland is nowfighting in November while Smith is a late addition to this card,taking on newcomer BruceWhitehead.
There are some things to like about Whitehead, as he’s powerfullybuilt and can find a knockout, but his resume isn’t particularlyexciting on paper; he’s done his best work against poorcompetition, and a quick knockout loss to recent UFC signingVictorValenzuela raises some worries about his ability to hold hisown in a firefight. Smith’s overconfidence could walk him intosomething, but this does look like Whitehead is in way over hishead; the pick is Smith via first-round stoppage.
Jump To »
Rodriguez vs. Coria
Pinas vs. Pulyaev
McGhee vs. Sopai
Wint vs. Armand
Walker vs. Parkin
Dos Anjos vs. Hernandez
Vettori vs. Naurdiev
McGee vs. Nolan
Smith vs. Whitehead
