Under The Radar: Andre Fili vs Myles Jury

Under The Radar: Andre Fili vs Myles Jury

By Alex Wigmore 

The return of Cain Velasquez entering the octagon against the powerhouse Francis Ngannou has overshadowed some potentially great bouts at UFC Phoenix, including that of featherweight contest between Andre ‘Touchy’ Fili vs Myles ‘The Fury’ Jury.

Whilst neither fighter has a top 15 ranking, this main card kick off clash is guaranteed to include fireworks. Both combatants are coming off of losses, with Fili dropping a split decision to Michael Johnson and Fury having been stopped via TKO by Chad Mendes in the first round.

Fili (18-6), a product of Team Alpha Male, is undeniably talented but has struggled to keep a string of wins together after coming into the UFC with a 12-1 record. 8 wins via knockout/TKO, 3 by submission and 7 from decision, ‘Touchy’ Fili is by no means an underestimated fighter. He holds a significant strike rate of 3.7 per minute with a 37% accuracy rate which doesn’t suggest he’s a killer, but he’s got the power and technique to stop most fighters in their tracks at the vital moment.

On the other hand we have Miles Jury (17-3) who boasts a higher accuracy rate with 40% but slips in significant strikes with 2.6 per minute. However, ‘The Fury’ is in possession of very good stand up defence blocking 74% of opponents strikes.

This is an incredibly close matchup with both fighters near equal in every department, if Jury can shutdown Fili’s striking rhythm and land his own powerful strikes and get his combinations flowing it could be an easy night for Miles. Fili can take the fight wherever he wants so should his striking game be bottlenecked he can just as easily bring the fight to the floor, where his quick and agile ground game comes into play. Both are strong.

Both are agile. Both are patient. It’s a war of chess between these two.

Prediction: Andre Fili by KO/TKO

Striking and grappling stats sourced via FightMetric