Preview: UFC 316 Prelims

Welterweights
Kalinn Williams (15-4) vs. Andreas Gustafsson (11-2)
Odds: Williams (-192), Gustafsson (+160)

After a ton of opponent changes for each, "Khaos" and Gustafsson square off in what's probably the most interesting matchup of the bunch. Williams has been a surprising success story since his UFC debut in 2020, starting off his UFC career with quick knockouts of Alex Morono and Abdul Razak Alhassan and generally doing well with a game that doesn't appear to be much on paper. Williams has a fairly simple approach built around patient counter-punching and the occasional grinding clinchwork, but makes that work with particularly exceptional vision and power; Williams can have fights where he doesn't accomplish much or generally looks too slow-paced to be effective, but he often turns those around immediately with a perfect punch to his opponent's chin. Most of Williams's losses have come through opponents maneuvering around his power, though Gabriel Bonfim did show that wrestling and grappling can blaze a successful path against Williams, which makes this pairing against Gustafsson an intriguing one. At 34 years old, Sweden's "Bane" doesn't figure to be a high-upside talent ahead of this UFC debut, but he should be an entertaining fighter at this level for however long his body holds up, as he's put together a career full of hard-fought blood-and-guts performances. Gustafsson just marches forward and mashes into his opponents while landing a lot of brutal offense, and while he's been knocked off-track at times, he has yet to break, typically outlasting his foes and scoring an eventual finish more often than not. That's going to either work brilliantly or fail spectacularly against someone like Williams, who will both cede the ground Gustafsson needs to gain some momentum but will also hit the UFC newcomer harder than he's even been hit in his career. It's the type of pairing that should be one-sided in practice but looks even on paper, and the UFC vet gets the benefit of the doubt; the pick is Williams via first-round knockout.

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Williams vs. Gustafsson
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