Jared Gooden will be taking on Randy Brown in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 39 this weekend. Both men are finishers who will be looking to put on a show at the UFC Apex and climb the welterweight rankings. The main event of the night will be a women’s strawweight bout between Mackenzie Dern and Marina Rodriguez. Sam Hughes was supposed to be fighting Lupita Godinez this weekend but she had to pull from the fight due to COVID. Replacing her will be Silvana Gomez Juarez, who will be making her UFC debut. Laureano Staropoli was also pulled from his bout with Jamie Pickett this weekend due to COVID. The fight was scrapped from the card completely and moved to a later date.
Jared Gooden
Jared Gooden comes into this fight with a professional MMA record of 18-6. 14 of those 18 wins are finishes, with eight being knockouts. He has only been finished in one of his six losses, and that was a knockout loss to Bruno Oliveira at Titan FC 55 back in 2019. Gooden is 1-2 in the UFC, knocking out Niklas Stolze in his most recent fight in July. Before that win, Gooden went 0-2 in the UFC, losing decisions to Alan Jouban and Abubakar Nurmagomedov. Gooden’s biggest wins outside of the UFC include Trent McCown, Jay Jackson, and Marcel Stamps.
Jared Gooden trains at X3 Sports in Atlanta, GA. He won the NFC welterweight title with a decision victory over Elijah Wynter in 2017, then defended his title once with a TKO over Sean Kilgus before moving to the middleweight division in his next fight. Gooden has power in all of his strikes and uses his striking very well. He also has a great grappling game and uses his strength to overpower his opponents on the ground.
Randy Brown
Randy Brown will come into this fight with a three-inch height advantage, as well as a slight reach advantage. Brown is a purple belt in jiu-jitsu and trains out of Budokan Martial Arts Academy in Queens, New York. Randy Brown won the Ring of Combat welterweight title at Ring of Combat 50 in 2015. He then defended his title twice against Rocky Edwards and Robert Plotkin before making his UFC debut against Matt Dwyer in 2016. Since joining the UFC in 2016, Brown is 7-4, racking up wins against Alex Oliveira, Warlley Alves, Bryan Barberena, and Mickey Gall.
Brown is 13-4 as a professional mixed martial artist, with 11 of those 13 wins being finishes. Six of his wins have come by knockout and five wins by submission. He has been finished in three of his four losses, with two of those losses being knockouts. Brown was submitted by Michael Graves in 2016 and was knocked out by Niko Price and Vicente Luque. Like Gooden, Brown has great grappling and even better long-range striking. He uses his jab very well and has great finishing ability off his back. His wrestling is also very underrated.
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UFC Vegas 39 Fight Card
Main Card (ESPN+ 4:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT)
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Marina Rodrigez
- Randy Brown vs. Jared Gooden
- Tim Elliott vs. Matheus Nicolau
- Sabina Mazo vs. Mariya Agapova
- Phil Hawes vs. Deron Winn
Preliminary Card (ESPN+ 1:30 PM ET/10:30 AM PT)
- Chris Gutierrez vs. Felipe Colares
- Alexandr Romanov vs. Jared Vanderaa
- Charles Rosa vs. Damon Jackson
- Lupita Godinez vs. Silvana Juarez
- Steve Garcia vs. Charlie Ontiveros
Featured Image
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