It’s been a while, but it felt right to do a fighter study now, as we have Andre Lima fighting this weekend.
Name: André Lima
Record: 9-0
Height: 5’7”
Reach: 67.5”
Weight: 125
From: Fiera de Santana, Bahia, Brazil
Age: 25
Contender Series v Rickson Zenidim
Lima starts this fight strong. He is very precise with his kicks and stays pressuring Zenidim, which Zenidim did not deal with well. He is powerful but slightly reckless when he throws punches, but his kicks are calculated and strong. He defends two attempts from Zenidim to take the fight to the ground. You could see Lima getting annoyed with Zenidim's lack of activity. Lima continued to attack Zenidim's legs. His kicks were landing constantly in this fight. This was a relatively easy fight for Lima as Zenidim didn’t really try, which you can see annoys Lima as he wanted to make this a fight. Lima did look strong when wrestling and his kicks were landing great all fight.
UFC on ESPN 53 v Igor Severino
Lima starts strong on the feet with his jab and a right straight to the body. He dealt with adversity with Severino’s takedowns but was able to scramble well and show his respectable ground game. Just like his contender series fight, his kicks are a big part of his game, and his straight punches looked good in this fight as well. Lima threw a few vertical elbows that staggered Severino, which were really nice. Sadly, the fight ends due to Severino biting Lima, but up until that, it was a solid fight, and Lima did well.
UFC 302 v Mitch Raposo
Raposo is very fast and has solid boxing, which you can see early in the fight. Lima’s game is about pressure and leg kicks, which you can see get affected by Raposo bursting in with combos. Lima does get a read on Raposo and times some knees, and his leg kicks slow Raposo down. Lima’s kicks upset his opponents in his fights, and you can see they upset Raposo early, especially since his leg kicks slowed down Raposo’s game. Lima found his range in the second, which stopped Raposo from entering well, and Lima continued to tee off on Raposo’s legs with his kicks. Raposo does get a takedown for a few seconds, but Lima gets up quickly, and it’s back to striking soon after. Lima is very patient in his fight style and will fight at a base level of just leg kicks and big strikes if its working. He does like the vertical elbow, but he only throws it when he thinks he’s close enough. Lima’s leg kicks continue to affect Raposo in the last round, and he even drops him near the end with the leg kicks. This wasn’t Lima’s best performance, but even his base level is very strong, and his leg kicks will upset pretty much every fighter. He was able to deal with a solid fighter in Raposo, who didn’t really have much success in this fight because of Lima’s leg kicks in this one.
Next Fight v Felipe Dos Santos
Lima fights this weekend against Felipe dos Santos. Dos Santos made his debut against Manel Kape stepping in for Kai Kara-France and had a competitive fight but did lose. He won his last fight against Victor Altamirano by split decision so you imagine he will want to have a good win here. I feel this is a good chance for Lima to really have a star making performance and get a finish. I imagine a win for Lima could get him a good opponent next especially if he gets a finish.
Prediction: Lima by KO R3