Miles Johns and Douglas Silva de Andrade compete in the new UFC on ESPN 58 co-feature. Will striking or grappling win the day?
Miles Johns and Douglas Silva de Andrade meet Saturday in the co-feature of UFC on ESPN 58 from UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
Johns (14-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) enters on the heels of a unanimous decision win over Cody Gibson in March. Prior to a no contest against Dan Argueta in September, Johns, 30, defeated Vince Morales by decision. His last loss preceded that outing, a submission setback vs. John Castaneda in February 2022. … De Andrade (29-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) enters off a decision win over Cody Stamann last May. The 38-year-old lost the fight prior, dropping a decision to Said Nurmagomedov in July 2022.
The impromptu co-main event in Las Vegas features a potential banger at bantamweight between Johns and de Andrade.
Despite Johns arguably being on a three-fight winning streak heading into this bout, I’m not sure I like this matchup for the fighter from the Midwest.
Johns is a respectable power puncher for the division, but de Andrade is arguably a bigger and more athletic version of the American and is difficult to put away.
Although Johns has been leaning more on his wrestling as of late, he doesn’t exactly score much from his positional work – typically spending large portions of entanglements fending off submissions.
For that reason, I suspect that Johns’ offensive wrestling will only open him up to opportunistic submissions opposite a fighter like de Andrade (who will also offer potent hooks and knees standing).
The pick is de Andrade by club-and-sub in Round 2.
The oddsmakers and the public are slightly favoring the younger fighter, listing Johns as a slight favorite at -140 and de Andrade a small underdog at +110, via FanDuel.
As the co-feature bout, Johns and de Andrade are expected to make their walks to the octagon at approximately 12:05 p.m. ET. The fight broadcasts live on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 58.
