UFC Las Vegas goes down this weekend, inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The event will have some significant fights on the main card. From Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili to Alexander Volkov vs Alexandr Romanov, to the return of Said Nurmagomedov, fans have a lot to look forward to. However, the night is set to kick off with a fight between Carlston Harris vs Jared Gooden.
Carlston Harris was set to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin Abubakar Nurmagomedov. But Nurmagomedov could not participate in the fight and Jared Gooden stepped in on the very short notice. Gooden makes his return to the UFC after an absence of one and a half years. Ironically, he gets his opportunity after Abubakar’s unavailability, whom Gooden fought at UFC 260 and lost.
Harris vs. Gooden pic.twitter.com/4Vg5p0UabZ
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Harris is coming off a loss against Shavkat Rakhmonov in his last fight. But, many consider Rakhmonov to be a serious contender for the welterweight title. So there is no shame in losing to an elite fighter like him. But before that, Carlston Harris beat Christian Aguilera and Impa Kasanganay. He currently holds a record of 2-1 in the UFC after making his debut in the promotion on May 8, 2021.
UFC Las Vegas: Carlston Harris vs Jared Gooden, Stats
| Stats | Carlston Harris | Jared Gooden |
|---|---|---|
| Wins | 17 | 22 |
| Losses | 5 | 8 |
| Height | 1.83 m | 1.83 m |
| Division | Welterweight | Welterweight |
| Reach | 193 cm | 195.6 cm |
| Age | 35 | 29 |
Harris vs Gooden: Fight Breakdown
Carlston Harris returns to action after more than a year since the loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov. He has 5 KOs and 5 submission wins in his nearly 12-year career. He has some good wins on his resume and one such victory came against Michel Pereira in 2015, outside the UFC. Judging by what Pereira has accomplished in the UFC, the win has aged like a fine wine.
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As per UFC stats, he lands 4:03 strikes per minute and only absorbs 2:07 strikes with a striking defense of 66%. Although Harris does not land many takedowns, he does attempt 1.6 submissions per fight whenever he is on the ground. So he is not just a KO artist, Carlston also has a very crafty submission game. As a result, Jared Gooden is in for a very tough fight in his UFC return.
Since his exit from the UFC in October 2021, Jared Gooden has won 4 fights out of his 5 fights. So he had built quite a good win streak for himself in the independent circuits. The 29-year-old had 11 knockouts and 6 submissions. So The Birmingham, Alabama native is a great competitor as well. In an interesting statistic, both fighters have 2 KO losses and 0 submission losses.
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So it is really tough to make a concrete prediction of the bout. But, Carlston Harris will definitely open as a favorite ahead of the bout due to his better record in the UFC. On top of that, the long break may help him too. Jared Gooden’s participation came to be on very short notice, which may work against Gooden as well.
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