Undefeated Peruvian flyweight Jose Ochoa makes his promotional debut at UFC Macau, paired up with an incredibly talented 125lb prospect in Lone’er Kavanagh. The card, which will force Western fight fans to be up in the wee hours of the morning, is headlined by Petr Yan and Deiveson Figueiredo in a bantamweight clash.
Jose “Kalzifer” Ochoa
Standing at five-foot-seven
Fighting at 125 lbs (Flyweight)
23-years-old
Moyobamba, San Martin, Peru
Training out of Chute Boxe Diego Lima
A pro record of 7-0, 1 NC
6 KO/TKOs, 1 Submission
How Ochoa will fare in the UFC:
Ochoa was supposed to fight on this past season of the Contender Series but was pulled and signed outright instead. It was a good decision considering Ochoa is UFC level. He’s still young but already so talented and has the perfect gym behind him to help him succeed. His only notable win thus far came against Juscelino Pantoja, who is now the Shooto Brazil flyweight champion.
Ochoa doesn’t have any glaring holes outside of just being young and still learning. Being from Chute Boxe he’s going to be a striker mainly. What helps him is he’s shown solid takedown defense. Ochoa does a great job of fighting underhooks. When he is taken down he has springs from underneath him as he bounces back up. How he will do when he’s taken down in the UFC is up in the air because he hasn’t fought a good grappler yet.
Ochoa is an all-action fighter that will bring it non-stop as you’d expect from Chute Boxe. He is volume-based, throws a lot of kicks, is fast, and uses good footwork. Being so aggressive, he brings a rapid pace. He’s got excellent kickboxing in space and you’ll see he can be a bit dynamic. What he lacks in power, Ochoa makes up for with speed, athleticism, and explosiveness. He’s also good on the inside with his Muay Thai. I’d like to see him set some things up better besides relying on his admittedly gifted abilities. Another thing is he’s a big flyweight. I believe it’s helped him with takedown defense and helped bully guys in the clinch.
Overall this is a great signing. Ochoa is only 23 and ready to compete with some of the top guys. I hope he gets a slower build after this fight because he’s still so young and far from complete. I see the top 15 potentially easily and maybe the top 10 in the future.
How he matches up with Kavanagh
I hate that they are bringing in Ochoa to fight Kavanagh in both of their debuts. I also love it because these two are the future of the sport, and particularly the flyweight division. I said earlier that Ochoa has crazy good speed, athleticism, and explosiveness. Well, Kavanagh is even better in those areas. Kavanagh is better at using feints and creating traps which Ochoa’s style plays into. I think the takedown defense of Kavanagh is the more gray area but Ochoa isn’t exploiting that. I like Kavanagh just simply because I think he’s the more complete striker.
