Light-heavyweight, Rafael Pergentino (5-0) vs. Luke Fernandez (5-0)
Notable Notes
- Fernandez fights out of the superior gym in Dante Rivera BJJ
- Fernandez is the current CFFC champ
- Fernandez has three of his five fights being title bouts
- Pergentino has fought one guy with a winning record
- Fernandez is 1-0 to the decision
- Fernandez’s entire career has been in CFFC
- Pergentino is moving down from heavyweight for this fight
- Fernandez has fought the superior competition
Rafael Pergentino
-Nothing
-Fighting
Every season, the MMA community likes to state a certain fighter is the worst in Contender Series history. Spoiler alert, but it doesn’t get any worse than Pergentino. The matchmakers have not only done a disservice to the brand but also to the talent, especially Brazilian talent. Pergentino just isn’t good in any area. The only thing I can say is he’ll start out fast, but that fades with any blowback or gasing out in two minutes. Contender Series should be a show that showcases the top unsigned talent in the world, but sometimes it morphs into a local amateur show.
Luke Fernandez
-Good right hand
-Heavy hands
-Good cage wrestling
-Good ground and pound
-Counters well
-Good dirty boxing
-Struggles against the cage
-Lacks feints
-Loads up
Fernandez came up through wrestling in high school and college. He went 6-0 as an amateur, capturing the CFFC amateur title, then followed it up with a 5-0 pro run, winning the CFFC pro belt as well. When I went back and watched his fights, I won’t lie—I was a little overwhelmed. He leans on striking more than wrestling, probably due to limited jiu-jitsu experience. That’s been changing, though; he recently submitted Phil Hawes to win the CFFC BJJ championship.
On tape, his grappling control isn’t great yet, and the technique is a work in progress. Striking-wise, he has power in both hands and does a good job blitzing in and countering. That said, his setups could be sharper. He rarely throws down the middle and doesn’t use feints to set up his power hooks. Fernandez does his best work in the clinch, but he still needs more offense up the middle and better awareness when his back is on the cage.
Overall, Fernandez just needs some fine-tuning around the edges. If the UFC takes him slow, there’s plenty of upside to build on.
Prediction: Fernandez is basically getting a bye week with this fight. Everyone Fernandez has beaten would smoke Pergentino. He wins this anyway he wants to and should do it without breaking a sweat. I’ve got Fernandez by first-round knockout.
