Bantamweight, Vinicius Oliveira (21-3):
Oliveira got into the UFC with a knockout on the Contender Series. He then made his debut and scored a highlight-reel flying knee which is still the knockout of the year so far. He got the push after that getting matched up with Ricky Simon who is an established UFC fighter. Oliveira beat Simon pretty clearly as a +210 underdog.
Vinicius Oliveira is an all-action freestyle-type athlete who will always put on a show. Being the diverse athlete he is, the Brazilian loves to go for broke throwing a lot of switch kicks, wheel kicks, going off the cage, and flying knees. The way he fights he can get clipped at any moment because he has in the past.
Lightweight, Manuel Torres (15-2):
There was a lot unknown with Torres coming into his Contender Series fight. He started off in the UFC showing off his striking knocking out Frank Camacho and Nikolas Motta. In his last fight he fought Chris Duncan who was going to test his wrestling and ground game. The jiu-jitsu of Torres is what stood out to me post-UFC and showed he had it submitting Duncan in the first.
Torres in his three UFC fights has won a Performance of the Night bonus. He’s a potential big star in Mexico. I like his fighting style and his personality and also the fact he’s a threat everywhere. Still a lot of questions to be answered but he’s a threat nonetheless.
