Preview: UFC 312 Prelims

Women’s Flyweights

Cong Wang (6-1, 1-1 UFC) vs. Bruna Brasil (10-4-1, 2-2 UFC)

ODDS: Wang (-455), Brasil (+350)

Wang was one of the UFC’s most interesting signings of 2024, as the Chinese fighter looked like a prospect who could move quickly through the flyweight division with a clear destination in mind. A former standout kickboxer, Wang beat current flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko in that realm shortly before the latter’s UFC debut, providing a built-in storyline assuming “The Joker” could work her way into title contention. Wang appeared to hit the UFC at just the right time for her to charge through her opposition. While there’s still some rawness to her overall game, she brings an impressive amount of violence to everything she does, and after blowing through Victoria Leonardo in her UFC debut, Wang looked to be cruising to a win over Gabriella Fernandes in November. However, Fernandes was able to suddenly stun her and hop on a fight-ending submission, at which point the hopes of a Wang title fight seemingly went up in smoke. The good news? Wang is back in action in relatively short order, and if she keeps up an active schedule, she could quickly move past that speed bump towards contention. First, she needs to get past Brasil. The 31-year-old Brazilian is a fighter with an approach that makes a lot of sense, as she looks to either neutralize her opponents from range with a sharp kicking game or grind them out in the clinch. Upon hitting the UFC, it has taken a surprisingly low bar to take Brasil out of that game. She was able to outwork the less athletic Shauna Bannon and Molly McCann, but shorter and stouter Denise Gomes and Konklak Suphisara took Brasil apart in various ways without much trouble. For now, Brasil’s fights tend to see either everything working or nothing working at all, and given how she has struggled as a full-time strawweight, it’s a surprise to see her move up to 125 pounds. The ground game might be a bit of an issue for Wang if things get there, but overall, this looks like a pairing where the Chinese fighter’s firepower will blow this bout wide open at some point over 15 minutes. The pick is Wang via second-round knockout.

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