The Prelim Breakout Star is a once-per-event article that helps fans get to know those who will be entertaining them from the undercard. The intention of the article is not to bring attention to the most talented fighter on the preliminary card, but rather one that the common fan may have overlooked or underestimated.
Josh Emmett
Affiliation – Team Alpha Male
From – Sacramento, California
Height – 5’6″
Weight – 145 lbs (Featherweight)
Record – 16-2 (7-2, UFC)
What makes him impressive
Josh Emmett has some of the more impressive KO power in all of the featherweight division. His stockier frame allows for him to generate big power in a small space. It’s led to knockouts in three of his last four victories, including a brutal one against Michael Johnson. However, what makes him the most dangerous is the fact that he mixes this with being a former collegiate wrestler. As a result, he chooses when people strike with him and when this becomes a grappling match.
Why he has been overlooked
It’s hard to say that someone in the top 10 of the UFC’s official rankings is being overlooked. However, he’s 7-2 in the UFC and has won five of his last six fights for the organization. Yet, still, nobody quite has him in the mix at featherweight, which could be due to the amount of time he’s had off. It’s been about 18 months since we’ve seen Emmett in the cage thanks to some injuries he sustained in his fight with Shane Burgos and a couple of complications that came from those. Still, given all of that, the oddsmakers line him to a tune of -172 right now (Odds courtesy of FanDuel).
What makes this a good match-up
Dan Ige has now dropped two of his last three fights with only a win over Gavin Tucker (a fight that lasted just 22 seconds). In each of the other two fights, he had issues with the volume that his opponents threw and the takedowns they landed to nullify his. Although Emmett is not a volume-machine as some of Ige’s past opponents, I think deterring him with a little wrestling can set Ige’s striking back quite a bit. We saw that with Korean Zombie and it’s a great way to turn the advantage if Ige does get rolling.
Prelim Breakout Star Record: 234-109-1 (2 NC) (14 DNF)
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