‘The Texas Kid’ and a 27-Year-Old-Fighter Upstart Trade Blows in Great Britain
UFC Fight Night: Evloev vs. Murphy will be held on March 21st and will have a plethora of fighters on its fight card. Among those fit to grace the octagon will be two unranked fighters competing for a future rank in the Men’s Featherweight Division. Specifically, these fighters are England’s own Luke Riley and the United States's Michael Aswell Jr., who is otherwise known as ‘The Texas Kid’. Both fighters are fresh in their careers with the UFC, with the 27-year-old Riley having made his debut in November of last year. Meanwhile, Aswell Jr. has had three fights in the UFC and is coming off a fresh win from his last bout. Being that they are so new to this league of talent, it’s almost difficult to say who has the most experience.
Riley’s experience consists of an undefeated fighting career so far. He hopes to keep this trend up, too. Also, of his total 12 wins for his fight career, nine of those have come from a knockout. The 27-year-old has demonstrated that striking is his preferred style of engaging his opponents, and he can be considered a faster finisher than his opponent. On top of these traits, he even has an affinity for avoiding most strikes thrown at him. This could come from the underlying fact that he isn’t leaving much room in the fight for his opponents to answer back any of his strikes. As such, he does have a lower defense than ‘The Texas Kid’, suggesting there may be an opening left to exploit.
The opening of a fighter, like Aswell Jr., may actually be able to find. He is just as experienced a fighter as the 27-year-old Riley, with 14 total fights under his belt. The most losses he has suffered are from his time in the UFC, which testifies to his caliber of expertise, before coming into the gauntlet of the Men’s Featherweight Division. He, like Riley, prefers a standing fight so far and will look to secure a knockout like in his last fight. If he does so, he will move closer to getting noticed by Dana White and could even get a fight bonus for a first-round knockout. He is more defensive in his orthodox style than the 27-year-old, making that likelihood less likely. However, this fight could go to the ground, and it seems that that could be an equalizer in the fight for him.
Even if the fight goes to the ground, Riley is selected to be the winner of this fight largely due to a KO/TKO victory. It does make sense, as nearly all of his wins are riddled with knockouts. However, as stated above, the ground is an area that he hasn’t openly displayed any interest in, nor has his opponent when pitted with another in the octagon. If ‘The Texas Kid’ is wise, he could use a takedown attempt to throw off any momentum the 27-year-old gains in his second round. Riley will certainly be looking for a knockout, though. It is uncertain if that can be achieved, as Aswell Jr. actually has enough defensive capability to absorb strikes in areas that will not impede his ability to return a knockout blow.
The conclusion of this fight is set by the statistics, and from this author’s viewpoint, it is likely that this will be the ending this matchup brings in, with Riley seizing victory. However, this victory will not be from a knockout, as projected, but instead it is likely that it will go to decision because of Aswell Jr.’s ability to defend himself. Once it goes to a decision, the 27-year-old will take the win by a unanimous decision. This is because he throws more strikes on average than ‘The Texas Kid’. If Aswell Jr. wants to seize the victory, he’ll have to figure out a way past the aggression that Riley will bring to this fight, as he has brought to all of his past fights. The fans will decide for themselves as this fight can be streamed through Paramount+ on Saturday, March 21st, starting at 4:00 p.m. EDT!
