JJ Aldrich vs Veronica Hardy -140
The UFC is traveling to St. Louis this weekend and why not look at the first fight on the card. JJ Aldrich is fighting Veronica Hardy and I do not understand why JJ isn’t the favorite here. Both fighters are not exactly old as JJ is 31 year old with Veronica at 28. I have to give the wrestling advantage here to Hardy as she is a well trained flyweight out of Venezuela in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo. She lands about 1.27 takedowns per 15 minutes compared to her opponent at .71. JJ Aldrich isn’t no slouch with a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a 3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo. The striking advantage should go to JJ here. This gal lands 4.05 significant strikes per minute compared to 3.27 for Veronica. She also defends strikes at a 60% clip compared to 46% for Veronica. Looking at the strength of schedule, Veronica hasn’t exactly had it tough. She is 3-4 in the UFC with her best win vs Polyana Viana sneaking in an Arm Bar. JJ on the other hand has wins vs Gillian Robertson, Vanessa Demopoulos, and Montana De La Rosa. Her only two losses since January of 2020 were against Erin Blanchfield who is one of the best fighters in this weight class, and Ariane Lipski who is smoking hot and hard to punch. I think that the wrong fighter is favored here and I will take the dog.
JJ Aldrich +120 – 1 star
