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#2 UFC Lightweight division: Jeremy Stephens vs. Drakkar Klose

Jeremy Stephens is fighting at 155lbs for the first time since 2012 this weekend.

This co-main event will be the first visit to the UFC Lightweight division for Jeremy Stephens since 2012, incredibly enough.

It’ll also mark the 35th time Lil Heathen has stepped into the Octagon, making him one of the most tenured veterans in UFC history.

So can he mark his return to 155lbs with a win? Or will Klose – who has basically tipped over the threshold from prospect to journeyman at this point – be able to hand him his fifth loss in six fights and perhaps his pink slip?

Stephens is a tricky fighter to get a handle on these days. A notable power puncher with numerous KO’s on his ledger, he’s also a good striker from a technical standpoint, as we’ve seen in his fights with the likes of Gilbert Melendez and Renan Barao.

Lil Heathen is also a decent enough wrestler as well as a solid grappler. So why has he never really risen into UFC title contention?

Essentially, he’s always been wildly inconsistent, capable of brilliance one minute but also more than capable of putting on a bad showing – as he did against Charles Oliveira and Cub Swanson – the next.

It’s also tricky to work out exactly what he’s got to offer at 155lbs. Sure, he lost his last three fights there, but there was no shame in losing to Anthony Pettis or Donald Cerrone in 2012. And he admittedly had personal problems leading into his loss to Yves Edwards.

Perhaps the biggest issue for him is his waning durability. He didn’t look nearly as tough as he did in his prime in his recent losses to Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez. And the fact that he’s been in the UFC for well over a decade now is alarming.

Klose, meanwhile, came into the UFC in 2017 with a reputation as a wrestler, but his striking earned him his first two wins as he beat Devin Powell and Marc Diakiese.

A loss to David Teymur exposed him somewhat, though – he couldn’t get his wrestling going and the Swedish kickboxer made his striking look crude. And while he’s picked up three wins since, his 2020 loss to Beneil Dariush was a bad one for him as he basically got clobbered by the grappler despite having him stunned early on.

However, on paper, at least, Klose seems like a bad match for Stephens.

He should have a size advantage, and Stephens has struggled before against fighters with decent takedowns that didn’t fear him standing, which, theoretically, Klose shouldn’t.

If Stephens can land one of his big power punches, however, then judging by the Dariush fight, Klose may well be in trouble.

But if that haymaker can’t land, then there’s no reason why Klose can’t outwork Lil Heathen or even take advantage of his fading durability to land a late TKO.

The Pick: Klose via unanimous decision