Preview: UFC 261 Prelims

Welterweights

NR | Dwight Grant (10-3, 2-2 UFC) vs. NR | Stefan Sekulic (12-3, 0-1 UFC)

ODDS: Grant (-225), Sekulic (+185)

Grant has been a frustrating talent during his UFC run. He was a bit of an odd prospect—if that was even the applicable word—from the start. “The Body Snatcher” appeared to be a typical raw but athletic fighter heading into the UFC, but he has been fighting since 2011 and just looks young to be in his mid-30s. Grant probably is what he is at this point: a talented knockout artist who historically has needed to press the action a bit more. He can win his fights with big moments, but he spends way too much time waiting to hit that perfect shot. That has led him to some disappointing performances and even a split decision loss to Zak Ottow, but Grant did seem more willing to throw down in his last fight—a crazy brawl against Daniel Rodriguez that unfortunately saw him suffer a knockout loss. Grant looks to rebound against Serbia’s Sekulic, who makes a somewhat surprising UFC return. Sekulic looked like a solid but unspectacular fighter on his home circuit and was last seen making his UFC debut against Ramazan Emeev in September 2018. Sekulic held his own but still clearly lost the decision, then received a two-year suspension for failing his post-fight drug test. That is normally a recipe for a UFC release, but the promotion stuck with Sekulic and allows him to return here. The main worry for Grant is that Sekulic has historically proven to be durable, but if the American pushes the sort of pace that he pushed in the Rodriguez fight, he should still be able to score a knockout. If Grant reverts back to his old form, this probably winds up as another slow-paced kickboxing match that he can win but in much more difficult and less inspiring fashion than it needs to be. It may be a bit optimistic, but the pick is Grant via first-round knockout.

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