Rashad Evans names the sole weakness that could cost Carlos Ulberg at UFC 327

Rashad Evans thinks Carlos Ulberg has all the tools to claim gold at UFC 327.

UFC Hall of Famer and former light heavyweight champion Evans will see the belt he once held on the line Saturday when Ulberg (12-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) meets Jiri Prochazka (32-5-1 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in a vacant title headliner at Kaseya Center in Miami (Paramount+).

Both men have shown the ability to deliver devastating knockouts inside the octagon, and Evans, who also serves as a UFC analyst, doesn't anticipate much grappling to come into play on fight night. That means a largely blow-for-blown affair on the feet, and when it comes to that, Evans favors the more measured approach of Ulberg – as long as he can stick to it.

"Ulberg is a straight sniper," Evans told MMA Junkie. "He doesn't know all the bad things that can happen in the cage yet. Before you have that knowledge of getting knocked out, having those losses, and having those traumatic experiences – before you have that, your mind can't even conceive it, so in fights you're willing to take more chances and do things that somebody who has had those traumas in the cage is not willing to do. So you already have an edge in the sense. That's Ulberg. He doesn't have that trauma in the cage.

"He's accurate, he's power and he's got the confidence. He's going to be tough to beat. The only way I see him losing this fight is if he gets pulled out of himself. If Jiri is able to pull him into one of those classic scrambles. If he can pull him into some of those, then it totally changes the way Ulberg can strike, and Jiri gets the edge."

Former champion Alex Pereira, who vacated the 205-pound belt in favor of a move to heavyweight, leading to the UFC 327 fight, is the only person to beat Prochazka in the UFC. He did so on two occasions, but everyone else has fallen to the chaotic and unpredictable style of the Czech fighter, who is determined to regain the belt he once held.

Ulberg, however, is riding the momentum of a nine-fight winning streak that has snapped more than nine years. The New Zealander has his own ambitions of greatness, and Evans thinks this is the moment where he starts to achieve them.

"I'm going to lean with Ulberg here," Evans said. "As much as I love Prochazka and he's such a warrior. I love that about him. I love his bushido mindset. I love that he lives the way of the warrior, but I just feel like at this point the technique is a little too loose for somebody that is as accurate and hits as hard as Ulberg. That, to me, is a difference-maker. The accuracy and the power of Ulberg.

"(Ulbeg is) still yet to come out of his shell a little bit. He's still kind of shy, but I feel like becoming a champion it makes you grow wings a little bit. We're going to see a different kind of Ulberg once he becomes champion."

To hear more from Evans, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above.