Introduction
Tuesday, August 18th, Mexican lightweight prospect Cristian Perez will be in action for Dana White’s Contender Series, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Logan Paxton. He will be looking for another win, as Perez looks to inch closer to a UFC. He represents The GOAT Shed, a solid camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Aggressive Striking: Perez is a very exciting striker who shows great aggression on the feet and is very fan friendly. Though he was outstruck by Manoel Sousa, who is a fantastic striker in his own right, Perez has looked outstanding in his career with a strong kicking and punching game. He’s also very solid in the clinch, where he can land good knees and elbows. Like I said, overall, Perez is a very game striker with an entertaining style.
Submission Arsenal: Perez is a good jiu-jitsu practitioner that has an impressive submission arsenal on the mat. Six of his fourteen wins come by way of the tapout, most of which came earlier in his career. He pairs that with solid ground striking on the mat to be an overall threat when engaging in the grappling portion of the fight.
Needs Improvement
Wrestling: Perez is not an offensively gifted wrestler, nor does he try to get in wild wrestling exchanges in his fights. He has solid counter-wrestling abilities, though, which can aid him in staying on the feet. That said, he has not fought a high-level wrestler like he will see in the UFC, so this fight here with Paxton could at the very least give us a preview into what he could look like in a UFC lightweight division stockpiled with high-level grapplers.
Outlook
UFC Top-25: Despite the hiccup Perez had in his Contender Series bout last year against Manoel Sousa, Perez is still a guy with an extremely bright future. He’s only 26 years old and has already shown an impressive skill set. He has a very advantageous matchup here against Logan Paxton, so this should be a showcase for Perez. The UFC is always looking for Mexican stars and Perez can certainly fit that bill.
MMA Intel 