Bantamweight Jose Quinonez (7-3, 2 KOs, 1 SUB) will meet Carlos Huachin (10-4, 8 KOs, 2 SUBs) at UFC on ESPN+ 17 on Saturday, September 21, 2019 at the Mexico City Arena in Mexico City, Mexico. The card streams live on ESPN+ starting 8pm ET.
Most of you might have already forgotten The Ultimate Fighter Latin America, but the standout prospect on the show was not Yair Rodriguez. Instead, the fighter that many felt had the brightest future was Jose Quinonez, who made it to the tournament final only to lose to Alejandro Perez. He bounced back with four straight wins, but his rise has been slow compared to Rodriguez’s - who happens to be headlining this Saturday’s card in Mexico City.
Coming off a loss to Nathaniel Wood this past March, Quinonez will defend home soil against Peru’s Carlos Huachin. This appears to be a showcase fight for Quinonez, as Huachin most recently suffered a loss in his UFC debut to Raoni Barcelos at UFC 237. Prior to that, he racked up a seven-fight unbeaten streak in regional promotions like Fusion Fighting Championship and Inka FC.
It’s fair to question whether Huachin is even UFC caliber, but as a native Peruvian he could be the spearhead into establishing a better foothold in South America. The UFC has already made their intentions clear of increasing their popularity in Mexico, but it’s been a slow going in a country with a celebrated boxing tradition. While most of the promotional push has been behind Yair Rodriguez, a big win by Quinonez on the main card could do a lot for his career.
Let’s take a look at the UFC odds at BookMaker.eu and break down your best betting options. Live UFC betting at the online sportsbook lets you make in-play wagers during every fight on the card as needed.
UFC Odds at BookMaker.eu
Jose Quinonez -150
Carlos Huachin +120
Fight goes/doesn’t go to decision: -175 / +135
Significant Striking Stats
Significant strikes landed per minute: Quinonez 3.38 / Huachin -
Striking accuracy: Quinonez 46% / Huachin -
Significant strikes absorbed per minute: Quinonez 2.49 / Huachin -
Striking defense: Quinonez 67% / Huachin -
Grappling Stats
Takedown average per 15 minutes: Quinonez 2.77 / Huachin -
Takedown accuracy: Quinonez 46% / Huachin -
Takedown defense: Quinonez 50% / Huachin -
Submission average: Quinonez 0.85 / Huachin -
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Injuries have sapped a lot of the momentum from Quinonez’s career, as he was only able to fight once a year since 2015. It’s truly unfortunate, as he’s shown steady improvements with each fight since the TUF finale. However, after beating mid-tier opponents in Leonardo Morales, Joey Gomez, Diego Rivas and Teruto Ishihara, he was dominated by a blue chip prospect in Nathaniel Wood in his last outing.
We can overlook the loss to Wood, who has won eight straight. But it suggests that Quinonez might already be close to hitting his ceiling. The 29-year old sets a high pace and relentless pressure, and his 2.77 takedowns per 15 minutes is a solid foundation to build on. Blessed with an excellent gas tank, Quinonez’s MO is to steadily grind on his opponents until they can offer little to no resistance in the last round. Though he’s not much of a finisher, his submission skills are solid and serve to demoralize opponents even further.
Huachin offers plus-knockout power at 135 pounds, but we haven’t really seen much else from him. Still, he’s only 23 years old, so there’s a good chance that he develops quickly. In this matchup, a sprawl-and-brawl strategy would seem to be his best bet, but it’ll be difficult to maintain the range needed to maximize his punching power.
UFC Odds Pick: Quinonez to win at -150
This is an extremely difficult style matchup for Huachin, who seems like he was handpicked to give Quinonez a win in front of his countrymen. The biggest issue is that the Peruvian’s takedown defense is poor, and Quinonez can be absoultely dogged when it comes to getting fights to the mat. If you’re not feeling the price, we’d also take a look at the victory bet that Quinonez wins by decision, as he finishes fights at less than a 50% clip.
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