Preview: UFC on ESPN 58 ‘Perez vs. Taira’

Welterweights

Josh Quinlan (6-2, 1-2 UFC) vs. Adam Fugitt (9-4, 1-2 UFC)

ODDS: Quinlan (-120), Fugitt (+100)

Quinlan has been a frustrating fighter, but the hope is that he can turn things around here. Quinlan has always been an obvious powerhouse and a knockout threat, but a lot of his regional career saw him meander before scoring a finish. After quick wins on the Contender Series and in his UFC debut, the hope was that Quinlan had finally learned to pull the trigger. Instead, his last two fights have been more exercises in frustration, particularly since Quinlan has been matched against taller and longer opponents. Against both Trey Waters and Danny Barlow, Quinlan was mostly content to get picked apart at range while failing to find an opportunity to break the fight open.

To that end, Fugitt should be a more forgiving matchup, as he finds himself on prospect-testing duty once again. Fugitt is a grimy opportunist with a solid level of durability who’s mostly looked to swarm his opponents and see what shakes out. That worked to great effect for a one-sided win against Yusaku Kinoshita in 2023, but losses to Michael Morales and Mike Malott saw Fugitt come out clearly on the worse end of some wars of attrition. Fugitt’s approach will likely give Quinlan the opportunity to pull the trigger and score a knockout rather than force him to find an opening himself. The pick is Quinlan via first-round knockout.

Jump To »
Perez vs. Taira
Aliskerov vs. Trocoli
Cuamba vs. Almeida
Johns vs. Silva de Andrade
Almabaev vs. Johnson
Quinlan vs. Fugitt
The Prelims