Lorenco vs Petersen at UFC Fight Night: A 26-Year-Old Brazilian Meets an NJCAA Champ
Two heavyweights with very different amounts of cage time meet on the prelims of UFC Fight Night: Cortes Acosta vs Walker on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Meta APEX in Las Vegas. Brazil's Gabriel Lorenco is listed at 1-0 on UFC.com. Thomas Petersen of the United States is 11-5 and has been with the UFC since February 2024.
Lorenco, 26, is from Roca Sales, stands 6-foot-2 and has a 76-inch reach. His UFC.com numbers are built on just 2:02 of cage time: 9.84 significant strikes landed per minute, 3.93 absorbed and 14.75 knockdowns per 15 minutes. Half of his significant strikes came on the ground.
Petersen, 31, nicknamed "The Train," fights out of The Striking Institute and won an NJCAA national wrestling title at Iowa Central in 2017. He has seven knockouts and one submission, and his only pre-UFC loss came in 2022 against Waldo Cortes Acosta, who headlines this card. He is 3-4 in the UFC. His most recent fight, on July 25, ended in a first-round submission loss to Valter Walker. At 6-foot-1 with a 74-inch reach, he gives up an inch of height and two inches of reach to Lorenco.
- Significant strikes landed per minute: Lorenco 9.84, Petersen 3.04.
- Striking accuracy: Lorenco 47%, Petersen 59%.
- Significant strikes absorbed per minute: Lorenco 3.93, Petersen 2.57.
- Takedowns per 15 minutes: Petersen 2.95.
- Average fight time: Lorenco 2:02, Petersen 10:10.
The question: can Lorenco keep up that output past the first few minutes, or will Petersen drag him into the later rounds?
Prelims start at 2 p.m. PT, with the main card at 5 p.m. Get your seat: Lorenco vs Petersen tickets.