Seems I am the only one here on Yair, so i will address all of the points people are making
1) Yair is getting WAY too much hate for the KZ performance. I was on KZ that fight, he was obviously going to win a decision but it wasn’t a bad performance by any stretch for Yair.
First he survived for 5 rounds vs frankly a much better finisher than Stephens. The only other UFC opponent KZ hasnt finished is prime Aldo, and he has more round 1 KOs in 7 fights (3) than Stephens does in 30 fights (2) including two common Stephens opponents in Moicano and Bermudez.
If KZ couldnt come close to KO’ing Yair in 5 rounds (at elevation on 2 weeks notice), it’s not likely Stephens will. Not to mention that KZ ground game is also much better.
Second, Yair had his moments. It probably should have been 4-1 or maaaybe 3-2 KZ. Judges had it 3-1, 3-1, 2-2 entering the 5th so it may have been a split decision as is. Judges are prone to being biased toward flashy prospects, and it’s only going to be mroe significant with a Mexican crowd going bananas for every flashy Yair strike.
2) This idea that Zabit is better than Yair at everything is ridiculous. Brandon Davis had a better round 1 of standup vs Zabit than Stephens did. Zabit is a much better wrestler and probably better overall, but people are deluding themselves if they think Zabit’s striking is better.
3) Stephens has been training with Tony? Who cares. Fighters train with studs all the time and fail to notably improve. Stephens is 33 and at this age more likely to decline than improve.
Meanwhile Yair also had access to good coaches and training partners and is an athletic 26 y/o with MUCH more potential to improve.
4) I don’t see any strong reason to favor Stephens. He could possibly KO but its not super likely. He could win a close decision, but it is in Mexico and Stephens isn’t one to run away with decisions vs quality opponents.
And Yair’s hands may be bad, but he can still KO Stephens with kicks, knees, elbows. Stephens is slightly weak to the body, maybe Yair hurts him with a switch kick.
I expect the fight to be reasonably close but Yair to be just a bit better with judge bias on his side. My most likely outcome is Yair 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 decision or something like that
