UFC 282: Undefeated Prospects Koslow vs Saaiman

Although the original championship bout meant to headline UFC 282 between Glover Texeira and Jiri Prochazka is no longer scheduled to happen on Saturday, the last pay per view of 2022 remains stacked with great match ups and prospects. So far we have 13 scheduled bouts to look forward to, with the likes of Paddy Pimblett, Darren Till, Ilia Topuria and more. There is one fight on the prelims that is flying under the radar, undefeated bantamweights Steven Koslow (6-0-0) and Cameron Saaimon (6-0-0). Like the Topuria versus Mitchell fight, someone’s 0 has to go here.

Cameron Saaimon fights out of Team CIT and has been called the prodigy of 282’s own Dricus Du Plessis, who is also scheduled to fight on Saturday night, against middleweight fan favorite Darren Till. Saaimon is only 21 years old and made his professional debut at 19, the same age as his mentor Du Plessis when he made his pro debut. Saaimon has an undefeated record (6-0) with 4 KOs/TKOs, 1 submission and 1 decision. Saaimon favors the striking aspect of MMA, mixing up his attacks with spinning back fists, kicks and clean combinations. To put the cherry on top of his ability to mix up his offense in terms of his striking, he is a southpaw fighter, and the left over hands that he throws are filled with power and intention to knockout his opponent. In his fight with Wang-Kim on DWCS, he showed that he can fight through adversity as his opponent was a switch stance fighter and seemed to be winning the striking exchanges between the two, switching to a conventional stance and landing a vicious kick to the body almost every time Saaimon tried to close the distance. It should also be of note that there were a few moments in the fight that Wang-Kim attempted to take Saaimon down and Saaimon successfully defended well all but once, and the one time he was taken down by Wang-Kim, he was able to scoot to the fence and find his way to the top position. Going into the 3rd round, I scored it 1-1. Both fighters came in with technique based aggression to start off the last round. Wang-Kim landed a heavy right hand that seemed to momentarily rock Saaimon, but this did not stop Saaimon from moving forward. His cardio also seemed to hold up well considering the high pace of the fight. With 2 minutes and 15 seconds left of the bout, Saaimon was able to pressure Wang-Kim to the cage, the two traded shots and Wang-Kim mistakenly got too comfortable in the pocket, threw a right hand and Saaimon found the opening for a straight left that knocked Wang-Kim face down on the canvas. Dana White immediately stood up in awe, and we knew right then and there that we would see Saaimon in the UFC.

Saaimon was originally scheduled to face Ronnie Lawerence (8-2-0) on Saturday but instead we have undefeated fighter Steven Koslow, who carries an impressive 100% first round submission finishing rate stepping in on short notice to make his UFC debut. In an interview with James Lynch of the “MMASucka” Youtube channel, Koslow revealed that he has been previously called to step in twice for the UFC before this matchup. The first time against Mario Bautista (11-2-0) and the second against Christian Rodriguez (8-1-0), but with both fights falling through, it is safe to say Koslow is looking forward to making his big debut on a stacked pay per view card this Saturday. Koslow is a young fighter himself at 25 years of age. He is a submission artist with all 6 of his wins coming by first round submission, hence his 100% submission finishing rate. Although he is known for his submissions, Koslow is a switch-stance fighter and in each fight he has been in, he takes his opponents down with beautiful timing, utilizes his striking from the top position and creates an opening to find the sub. Watching his previous fights, I can appreciate his patience and intention with his takedowns as well as the aggression he implies to secure the submissions when the moment is right. Koslow made his amateur debut in 2015, although he lost his first fight via split decision, he has gone on to win every fight following that loss, including his pro debut in 2019 and the 5 fights after. The amateur experience of Koslow should be of note, not only does Koslow have the advantage in terms of cage experience, he stays busy in between mixed martial arts fights competing in submission grappling often. Considering Koslow has won all of his fights in the first round, there isn’t much footage to go off of when determining his level of striking. He seems to show the same aggression on the feet that he shows in securing his submissions but clearly his bread and butter is his grappling, submitting over 20 people when including his amateur bouts. Regardless of whether he finds the way to win on Saturday night, I believe he is a bantamweight that we should all keep our eyes on moving forward.

Breakdown & Prediction:

When Saaiman faced Josh Wang-Kim in his DWCS bout, both fighters had a record of 5-0, proving that Saaiman has been in this position before. Like Steven Koslow, Wang-Kim came into the fight with a significant amount of amateur experience. Oddly enough, Wang-Kim also shares in common with Koslow the ability to switch stances. Saaiman has shown that he can prevail through adversity in a fight when it comes to striking as well as defend submissions and attempt his own. I do not think that Saaiman will entertain the takedowns of Koslow as he did with Wang-Kim considering the significant advantage that Koslow has on the mat. This will be a classic grappler versus striker affair. I believe that Koslow is more fierce with his takedown attempts than what we saw in Wang-Kim but with the ability to adjust and defend that Saaimon showed in his fight versus Wang-Kim, I think he will be able to survive the scrambles with Koslow as long as he acts quickly and with zero mistakes. Ultimately I have seen more of a well rounded fighter when it comes to Saaiman but I do not think the -400 odds that some sportsbooks have Saaiman sitting at can be justified considering the resume of Koslow. I have to take into consideration that Koslow was not given a full fight camp for this match up and Saaiman was, although his original opponent Lawrence is a fighter with a different set of skills to watch out for. I think that this fight could be a challenge for both prospects, and hopefully we will get to see each man show the diversity of their skills. I predict that Saaiman will be able to weather the storm of Koslow’s takedown attempts which could potentially exhaust Koslow, I think we will see Saaiman chop at the legs of Koslow as he does to most of his opponents being the great kickboxer that he is, and eventually work to get the finish in the 3rd round. Regardless of the outcome of this fight, these are two prospects that I believe will do great things in the UFC and continue to evolve being the young talented fighters that they are.

Prediction:
Cameron Saaiman via finish in round 3
(Please note: This prediction is not associated with the MMAPlay365 packages, subscriptions or services)