The MMA Daily

We have an early frontrunner for “Fight of the Night” in the Featherweight division, as Charles “Air” Jourdain takes on Lando “Groovy” Vannata. Coming off a decision victory over Andre Ewell, Jourdain will look to capture his first winning streak since 2018/2019. Having gone 3-3-1 in seven fights in the UFC, Jourdain will need to start winning if he has any aspirations of UFC gold. Meanwhile, Vannata comes into this fight off a split decision victory over Mike Grundy. Like Jourdain, Vannata too has struggled to string together a two-fight win streak. Not only has Vannata failed to do such since 2015/2016, but he has a salty 4-5-2 record.

As for a prediction, I have Vannata winning. While he may hard to trust, especially considering his salty record, Vannata is at his best when he faces pure strikers. In eleven fights in the UFC, Vannata is 3-1 when he isn’t taken down. On the flip side, when taken down, Vannata is a mere 1-4-2. Seeing that Jourdain has failed to land a single takedown in seven fights, I’d say we can expect to see the best version of Vannata. However, I’m not counting Jourdain out of this fight by any means. He himself is a solid striker, who in seven fights, has accumulated six knockdowns. Interestingly enough though, Jourdain is only 2-2 when recording a knockdown. While I could see Jourdain adding onto that here, Vannata has proven that his durability is excellent. The real reason though I’m siding with Vannata, is that he in addition to being a striker, has good offensive wrestling. Something which I believe he will utilize and Jourdain’s 48% takedown defense. So with all that said, I predict Vannata to win via decision.