After entering the year on a six-fight winning streak, Ferreira dropped a split decision to Beneil Dariush in February, and then faded hard and was finished by Gregor Gillespie three months later in a fight where he missed weight by a considerable amount, as well. Still positioned in the Top 15, Ferreira is a decorated grappler and has only ever lost to ranked competition, so this is an outstanding litmus test for Gamrot as he looks to advance further up the lightweight ladder to close out the year.
Gamrot was a two-division champion for KSW in his native Poland and fought quality competition there, and has bounced back from his narrow loss to Kutateladze with a pair of impressive finishes already this year. If he can push his winning streak to three with another dominant effort, people should start to consider him a dark horse contender in the ultra-competitive 155-pound weight class.
Ricky Simón
The mulleted wrestler from the Pacific Northwest returns to Las Vegas in search of his third victory of the year and fourth straight win overall on Saturday, squaring off with bantamweight stalwart Raphael Assunção in another “measuring stick” matchup on this weekend’s main card.
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Simón got a win on the first season of Dana White’s Contender Series, but didn’t come away with a contract, but after winning and successfully defending the LFA bantamweight strap, he was called to the Octagon in April 2018, earning a technical submission win over Merab Dvalishvili in his promotional debut. Wins over Montel Jackson and Rani Yahya followed, establishing Simón as someone to watch in the 135-pound weight class, but a flash knockout loss to Urijah Faber and a unanimous decision setback against Rob Font halted his momentum.
A win over Ray Borg got him moving in the right direction again, while victories over Gaetano Pirrello and Brian Kelleher four weeks apart at the start of the year delivered him to the brink of breaking into the rankings and another chance to beat a veteran and earn a number next to his name.