UFC Vegas 108’s Exciting Prelims To Kick Off August Slate

UFC Vegas 108 fight week is here. For the first time on the UFC’s summer schedule, Dana White and company hold court at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, NV. It’s the first Fight Night event to be held at the Apex since the evening of May 31.

That night, the planned main event never took place as Maycee Barber, who missed weight the previous morning, encountered medical issues minutes before she was to walk out to the Octagon, resulting in the contest versus Erin Blanchfield being postponed. Mateusz Gamrot and L’udovit Klein fought in the final fight of the evening.

Live coverage of UFC Vegas 108 can be seen wall-to-wall on ESPN via linear television in the United States of America and ESPN+ through streaming media. If you’re watching in Canada, Sportsnet will carry the show on Saturday night.

Prelims begin at 6 pm ET/ 3 pm PT Saturday evening, followed by the main card at 9 pm ET/ 6 pm PT on ESPN and ESPN+. If there are no adjustments to the bout order, the final version of the show will feature a slate of 12 fights from MMA’s top promotion.

UFC Vegas 108 Featured Prelim: Rinya Nakamura vs. Nathan Fletcher

Your featured prelim of the evening in UFC Vegas 108 on Saturday night takes place at 135 lbs. Rinya Nakamura (9-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) squares off against Nathan Fletcher (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC.) All fights mentioned herein are an advertised maximum of three rounds at five minutes per round.

Nakamura comes into the weekend having posted a record of 4-1 in his last five fights. Back on Jan. 18, he dropped from the ranks of the unbeaten with a unanimous decision defeat to Muin Gafurov (20-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC) after three rounds at UFC 311 in Inglewood, CA.

He’s had north of six months to think about what went wrong that winter’s night. Can Nakamura get back in the win column at UFC Vegas 108?

Meanwhile, Nathan Fletcher counters with a mark of 3-2 in his last five professional appearances. A cast member of the 2024 season of The Ultimate Fighter television series on ESPN+, he was forced to withdraw from the bantamweight semifinal and is currently reeling from a split decision loss to Caolan Loughran (10-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) this past March in London.

He mentioned in a recent interview with Inside Fighting that he wants to get the victory inside the distance, but will he get it in his third UFC appearance? Only time will tell.

UFC Vegas 108 Co-Featured Prelim: Rodolfo Vieira vs. Tresean Gore

Immediately beforehand, the co-featured undercard bout at UFC Vegas 108 sees action happening in the middleweight division. Rodolfo Vieira (10-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) meets up with Tresean Gore (5-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC.) Vieira will be making the walk at UFC Vegas 108 sporting a record of 3-2 in his last five fights dating back to the summer of 2021.

Last time out, he dropped a unanimous decision to Andre Petroski (13-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC.) This is Vieira’s ninth appearance under the UFC promotional banner, and he could use a sustained winning streak beginning with UFC Vegas 108. Vieira hasn’t had a prolonged run of success since he rattled off seven victories in a row between February of 2017 and March of 2020 to begin his MMA career.

Across the way, this is a crucial bout for Tresean Gore and his camp. Gore has gone 2-3 since joining the UFC’s active roster by way of The Ultimate Fighter in its 2021 season and was on the receiving end of a second-round knockout by way of a straight right from Marco Tulio (14-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in April from Miami.

Gore is getting to the point in his UFC tenure where he isn’t going to be able to afford too many more losses. If he wants to start making a run at contendership at 185, he needs to do so now.

UFC Vegas 108: Nick Klein vs. Andrey Pulayev

Also on the UFC Vegas 108 undercard, you’ll be treated to a middleweight bout versing Nick Klein (6-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) with Andrey Pulayev (9-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in a battle between 2024 Contender Series graduates. Klein has posted a 3-2 mark in his last five contests

His UFC promotional debut resulted in a second-round knockout loss at the hands of Mansur Abdul-Malik (8-0-1 MMA, 2-0-1 UFC) back in Seattle on Feb. 22. Klein is making his ninth walk to the cage in an MMA fight this Saturday.

Will he get his hand raised for the first time under the UFC banner? Tune in and find out.

In the other corner, Andrey Pulyaev is in a similar predicament going into UFC Vegas 108. He’s gone 4-1 over the course of his five most-recent affairs. Pulayev’s freshman appearance in the UFC ended with a unanimous decision loss to Christopher Leroy Duncan (11-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) on the March 22 London card.

With both fighters looking to secure win number one in MMA’s top promotion, this looks to be an interesting 15 minutes (or less) of action.

Final Thoughts

Which prelim or prelims are you looking forward to on UFC Vegas 108? Let us know in the comments.