UFC 286 is hitting London for a big card headlined by England’s own welterweight champion Leon Edwards rematching former champ Kamaru Usman, with the pair meeting for a third time. Outside of that, we’ve got a few Contender Series fighters debuting and an abundance of highly anticipated UFC debuts. One of those debuts is former Cage Warriors middleweight champion, Christian Leroy Duncan. He’s taking on six-fight UFC veteran Duško Todorović.
Christian Leroy Duncan
Standing at six-foot-two
Fighting at 185 lbs (middleweight)
27-years-old
Fighting out of Gloucester, England
Training out of Range Martial Arts Academy
A pro record of 7-0
5 KO/TKOs, 1 Submission
What’s Duncan’s ceiling in the UFC:
Duncan is a Cage Warriors middleweight champion. As an amateur Duncan had over twenty fights and was a multiple-time finalist for IMMAF. Duncan has six losses as an am amateur but with all that experience he’s unbeaten as a pro. He signed with the UFC straight out and he’s definitely worthy of having a lot of hype behind him.
Duncan is the new blood the middleweight division needs. He’s one of the most electrifying fighters out there today. Duncan hasn’t spent a lot of time grappling; he doesn’t show it often but the man can both wrestle and grapple. In his fight with Will Currie, he showed strong defensive grappling and good scrambling ability. Just like he is on his feet Duncan is never complacent always working.
Duncan is so fun to watch on the feet. He’s quick, diverse, and super explosive. He loves to throw the flying knee which he’s ended fights a few times with. He’ll throw a variety of flashy kicks like crescent kicks, hook kicks, wheel kicks, ax kicks, and tornado kicks. He does all that too with no load-up or wasted motion. Duncan is so good at using different attacks to keep his opponents guessing. All the kicks he throws and his movement it takes away from his hands. His hands aren’t as dangerous but it’s still a valuable weapon. He’s got a good jab and fights long well in general.
How he matches up with Todorović:
When Todorović came to the UFC he had a lot of hype. He’s still young and talented but has taken a lot of damage in his UFC stint. He’s been finished twice but has taken a lot of damage in other fights as well. He’s been really chinny and the guys he beat in the UFC are no longer on the roster. I don’t see how Todorović can get out of this fight without getting caught. Duncan is faster, more explosive, way more powerful, and even better in the wrestling and grappling. I predict Duncan to put Todorović away inside two rounds.
