A tasty matchup between welterweights Mickey Gall and Jordan Williams is on schedule on the main card of UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw this coming weekend. Both Gall and Williams are looking to have a more relevant presence in the weight division, and a win this Saturday could give one of them just that. Check out our preview of this fight below.
The aim for Gall is to get his UFC career back in order after losing to Mike Perry via unanimous decision back in June 2020. Gall has been inconsistent inside the Octagon ever since tasting a defeat at the hands of Randy Brown (unanimous decision) in November 2017. Including that loss, Gall has gone 2-3 in his last five fights. The last time Gall won was nearly two years ago when he scored a unanimous decision victory over Salim Touahari in August 2019. The pressure for Gall to win is now more emphasized, considering his recent history, but at age 29, he’s definitely still in his prime, so look out for him to have a strong performance this weekend. He’s going to be more comfortable fighting on the mat against Williams, as that’s where he’s had the most success in the past. Gall has a 5-0 submission record and a UFC average of 2.1 submissions per 15 minutes.
Williams is moving down a weight class for his second fight in the UFC. That’s after taking a unanimous decision loss in his UFC debut against Nassourdine Imavov back in October 2020. This will be his first time fighting in the welterweight division in five years. Williams got smothered in the striking aspect of the fight in his loss to Imavov, as he absorbed 68 significant strikes while dealing just 30 to his opponent. If anything, Imavov tried to submit Williams four times but failed in all of them, so that’s a good sign for “Bomayes” defense heading into a fight against a submission specialist like Gall. With him sliding down to a lighter division, Williams’s power could be a bigger factor than in his recent fights. He has seven wins via knockouts, including his victory in Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 4, Week 7 fight against Gregory Rodrigues in September 2020.
