Fresh of a successful UFC 262 last weekend in front of a sold-out crowd in Houston, Texas we are back at the Apex in Las Vegas. UFC Vegas 27 is headlined between former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt going against contender Rob Font. A packed card with names like Carla Esparza, Felicia Spencer, Jack Hermansson, Ben Rothwell, and more is in store for fight fans. In a flyweight bout, David Dvorak was supposed to take on Raulian Paiva. Paiva, due to a bad weight cut, had to pull out and now newcomer Juancamilo Ronderos will step in on short notice. Very short notice.
Juancamilo Ronderos
Standing at 5’3″
Fighting at 125 lbs (flyweight)
26-years-old
Fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada, US but from Bogotá, Colombia
Training out of Xtreme Couture
A pro record of 4-0
2 Submissions
How will Ronderos fare in the UFC:
There is tons of talent out there that has worked for years across the world getting as much experience as possible. To sign a guy at only 4-0 just isn’t the right move, but it was one made out of necessity in this case. Ronderos was training for a fight on the Contender Series and training out in Vegas, which gave him this opportunity.
I’ll give props to Ronderos in that he has fought decent competition including former UFC fighter Eric Shelton and has won every one of his fights pro and amateur. The main goal for Ronderos in every fight is to close the distance. He’s going to grind guys against the cage and work in takedowns. He’s really relentless in his forward pressure and never gives up trying to get the takedown. Ronderos isn’t the best wrestler so it’s his pressure that wears on guys. With the striking, he isn’t technical at all as it’s just throwing wildly to close the distance. On the mat, Ronderos on top was a dangerous guy at getting dominant positions. He frequently would lose good positions and find himself on his back. On the flip side when on his back he was scrambling his ass off to get to his feet or get on top. As shown in his fights with Eric Shelton and Matthew Elliott it’s fairly easy to take Ronderos down. Holding Ronderos down is the real problem guys have problems with.
Ronderos will eventually go up against someone that can stick him on the outside where he will struggle to close the distance. As a wrestler, I don’t rate him highly so with that said, I see him struggling. Being only four fights in his pro career it’s too early to be fighting the best 125’ers in the world.
How he matches up with Dvorak:
Dvorak has a lot of experience and has been undefeated for a little over eight years. Dvorak is ultra dangerous in every aspect. He throws good combinations, always throwing more than one punch, and has the power to put his opponent’s lights out. Dvorak is just so dangerous at range with output and power. Even in the clinch, he’s deadly with excellent Muay Thai knees which he uses a lot. That just isn’t a good match-up for Ronderos. Even if he can take Dvorak down he’s held his own there. Dvorak is on the rise and for Ronderos it’s too soon.
