Roman Kopylov vs Ateba Gautier Preview & Prediction — UFC 332

Roman Kopylov brings the kind of volume and body-and-head kick game that has ended three UFC fights outright, and he is stepping in against Ateba Gautier, a younger, longer striker who has never been taken off his feet. The desk is not betting this one, but the read is clear: Gautier's tools and his own fight tape against a similar style make him the right side to argue for.

Roman Kopylov

Kopylov is a southpaw who wants volume and angles, and his kicking game is the actual threat here, three of his UFC wins have come by kick-related stoppage. He has never been stopped by strikes in 20 pro bouts, which keeps him upright and dangerous into the later rounds even when he is losing the exchanges. He also has some control wrestling on tape, logging over 500 seconds of control against Almeida and over 150 against Tulio, so there is a path where he grinds position and steals a round that way instead of just trading. The problem is what happens when the man across from him can actually punish the kicks and close distance behind real pop. In his two most recent losses, Kopylov was outlanded badly by heavy-handed orthodox strikers, Costa landed 99 of 159 to his 48 of 104 with a knockdown, and Rodrigues landed 90 of 173 to his 52 of 105. That is the exact style-and-tools matchup Gautier presents again here.

Ateba Gautier

Gautier is the longer, younger man in this fight, and he has a knockdown in every UFC appearance, which tells you he is not just surviving exchanges, he is landing the kind of shots that hurt a southpaw kicker before the kicker can find his rhythm. His one blemish is a split decision loss to Williams, where he let low kicks land unchecked and visibly slowed in the second and third rounds, and he also gave up his back in that fight. That is a real hole, and it is the version of Kopylov the desk worries about if Kopylov can keep the kicks coming late. But Gautier has already faced a close cousin of this problem and passed it. Pulyaev, a long southpaw, outlanded him 59 to 34 over three rounds, yet Gautier still dropped him twice and won clearly on every card. A southpaw who out-works him on volume has not been enough to beat him, because Gautier's knockdown power keeps finding him.

How the fight plays out

This fight is a straight read of recent patterns on tape, and both men's last meaningful data points point the same direction. Kopylov's two most recent losses show a very specific blueprint for beating him, get hit hard and often by a bigger striker, and Gautier owns the physical edges to run that blueprint, plus a demonstrated knockdown in every UFC outing. Kopylov's best counter is volume and kicks wearing Gautier down the way Pulyaev's volume did, but Gautier already weathered that exact southpaw-volume look and still walked away with the decision and two knockdowns of his own. The one true risk for Gautier is fading late the way he did against Williams while eating low kicks unchecked, which hands Kopylov his only realistic path, a durable late-rounds case built on volume rather than finishing power. That path exists, but it requires Gautier to repeat his worst performance against a less dangerous puncher than the two men who most recently beat Kopylov. The stronger, more recent pattern favors Gautier's length, power, and the fact that he has already passed this style test before.

The verdict

The desk's read favors Gautier. His reach and knockdown power match the exact profile that has beaten Kopylov in his two most recent losses, and Gautier has already out-dueled a long southpaw's volume once before without being stopped or badly hurt. The one path back for Kopylov is a repeat of Gautier's slow fade against Williams, but that is the outlier, not the pattern.