Preview: UFC Atlanta Prelims

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Atlanta, and there's a solid slate of seven prelims with some local flavor.

UFC Atlanta’s top two fights here are far from local, however; Scotland's Paul Craig returns to light heavyweight against Brazil's Rodolfo Bellato, and a welterweight bout between former “The Ultimate Fighter” winners Michael Chiesa and Court McGee pairs off two veterans from the western half of the United States. But beneath that, Georgia natives Malcolm Wellmaker and Cody Durden each get some winnable but potentially tricky fights, taking on Kris Moutinho and Jose Ochoa, respectively. As far as the lower half of these prelims, the clear highlight is former headliner Ricky Simon returning to action against late replacement Cameron Smotherman.

Light Heavyweights
Paul Craig (17-9-1) vs. Rodolfo Bellato (12-2-1)

Odds: Bellato (-375), Craig (+295)

A late scratch from a card last month, Craig's return to light heavyweight winds up here. Scotland's "Bearjew" figured to be a fun curiosity when he came to the UFC in 2016, owning a surprisingly adept submission game for someone of his size. But it wasn't a surprise when Craig's results turned out to be fairly boom or bust; he'd pull off the occasional low-percentage miracle, most notably in his literal last-second submission of Magomed Ankalaev in 2018, but just as often get absolutely nuked by a much more powerful striker. Despite most of Craig's fights feeling like a coin flip, he did manage to go on a six-fight undefeated streak from 2019 to 2022 that had him on the verge of contender status -- but that luck eventually corrected, and after losses to Volkan Oezdemir and Johnny Walker, Craig decided to ply his trade down at 185 pounds. Craig's debut in the weight class was impressive, as he was an effective bully while running through Andre Muniz, but he otherwise found himself stalled out against more skilled opponents, necessitating this move back up to 205 pounds.

Craig takes on Bellato here in what should once again be anyone's fight, as Bellato's the type of fighter capable of both annihilating Craig in short order or diving into a submission for as long as Craig survives. Bellato has some skills on the mat but is mostly a fairly straightforward slugger that relies on his durability, often getting hurt but rarely getting finished, with his lone losses coming to fellow UFC fighter Vitor Petrino. That sheer persistence is a double-edged sword in a matchup like this, as Craig's game is built to catch opponents that focus on offense at the expense of defense, but the call is that the Brazilian is bull-headed enough to find a finish here; the pick is Bellato via second-round stoppage.

Jump To »
Craig vs. Bellato
Chiesa vs. McGee
Wellmaker vs. Moutinho
Durden vs. Ochoa
Simon vs. Smotherman
Rowe vs. Loosa
Horth vs. Demopoulos