ChangHo Lee and Cortavious Romious meet Saturday on the main card of UFC on ESPN 65 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
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ChangHo Lee vs. Cortavious Romious UFC on ESPN 65 preview
Lee (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has four straight wins, including his official promotional debut this past June after his Road to UFC run. Romious (9-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) will try to get back in the win column after a loss in his UFC debut, which came on the heels of a DWCS win. But he'll forfeit 20 percent of his purse after he came in more than 3 pounds north of the bantamweight limit.
ChangHo Lee vs. Cortavious Romious UFC on ESPN 65 expert pick, prediction
Despite having two much more deserving bantamweight matchups relegated to the prelims, the UFC matchmakers decided to feature Cortavious Romious and Chang Ho Lee due to their proximity to in-house products like Dana White's Contender Series and Road to UFC.
Although both men are in their 30s, their games still have the rawness of developing fighters in their early 20s.
Romious could certainly get the jump with the initial explosions of his takedown shots, but the American's propensity to go fishing for submissions off his back appears to be a feature of his troubling fight IQ.
Lee may not have much more to write home about, but Korean is good about scoring with strikes whether he's in positive or negative positions. The Road to UFC product also has some nasty knees from double-collar ties that Romious could find himself in off of failed takedowns.
I'll semi-reluctantly side with Lee to take a hard-fought decision win on the scorecards.
ChangHo Lee vs. Cortavious Romious UFC on ESPN 65 odds
The oddsmakers opened up the American as the favorite, but public money has flipped the line in the Korean's favor, listing Lee -130 and Romious +106 via FanDuel.
ChangHo Lee vs. Cortavious Romious UFC on ESPN 65 start time, how to watch
Lee and Romious are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 11 p.m. ET. The fight airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC on ESPN 65.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: ChangHo Lee vs. Cortavious Romious prediction, pick, start time for UFC on ESPN 65
