Montel Jackson vs. Ricky Simon: the 6.5-inch reach edge that frames the bantamweight prelim

The setup

Montel Jackson (15-4-0) and Ricky Simon (22-7-1) meet at bantamweight on the prelims when UFC Fight Night: Rosas Jr. vs. Barcelos arrives at Meta APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday, September 26, 2026, scheduled for three rounds.

Our schedule tables list 11 bouts on the card; this one is filed under the prelims. The bout is listed as announced in the PropBetEdge schedule.

The question this preview works through is whether Montel Jackson's 6.5 inches of reach translates into control of range against Ricky Simon, or whether the archive says Simon closes distance regardless. UFC Stats career averages are on file for both fighters, which sets the limit on how far that read can go.

Tale of the tape

• Record: Montel Jackson 15-4-0 · Ricky Simon 22-7-1
• Age: Montel Jackson 34 · Ricky Simon 34
• Height: Montel Jackson 5'10" · Ricky Simon 5'6"
• Reach: Montel Jackson 75.5" · Ricky Simon 69"
• Stance: Montel Jackson Southpaw · Ricky Simon Orthodox
• Listed weight: Montel Jackson 135 lbs · Ricky Simon 135 lbs

The 6.5-inch reach gap in Montel Jackson's favour (75.5" to 69") is the tape's headline number; it defines the range each man is working from. A reach edge matters most when the longer fighter also sets the pace, and here the numbers cut the other way: Ricky Simon out-lands Jackson 3.03 to 3.02 per minute, so the shorter fighter is the busier one and has to cross the gap to do it. That is a different fight from a long fighter picking apart a passive one. It is an southpaw-versus-orthodox pairing: lead legs line up on the outside, which rewards the rear straight and the rear kick and makes the calf-kick battle a live one.

Recent form

Our archive has 14 completed UFC bouts for Montel Jackson, 10 wins and 4 losses. 5 of those wins came inside the distance (4 by KO/TKO and 1 by submission), a 50% finish rate on archived wins. The losses went to the scorecards. He last fought on Apr 25, 2026 and lost to Raoni Barcelos by split decision in round 3. That puts him 154 days out by fight night.

• L vs Raoni Barcelos — split decision, R3 (Apr 25, 2026, UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs. Zalal)
• L vs Deiveson Figueiredo — split decision, R3 (Oct 11, 2025, UFC Fight Night: Oliveira vs. Gamrot)
• W vs Daniel Marcos — unanimous decision, R3 (May 3, 2025, UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Figueiredo)
• W vs Da'Mon Blackshear — KO/TKO, R1 (Jul 13, 2024, UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs. Cortez)
• W vs Rani Yahya — KO/TKO, R1 (Apr 22, 2023, UFC Fight Night: Pavlovich vs. Blaydes)

Our archive has 18 completed UFC bouts for Ricky Simon, 11 wins, 6 losses and 1 draw. 5 of those wins came inside the distance (2 by KO/TKO and 3 by submission), a 45% finish rate on archived wins. He has been finished twice in the archive. Most recently he drew with Adrian Yañez by draw in round 3 on Mar 28, 2026. That puts him 182 days out by fight night.

• D vs Adrian Yañez — draw, R3 (Mar 28, 2026, UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs. Pyfer)
• L vs Raoni Barcelos — unanimous decision, R3 (Nov 8, 2025, UFC Fight Night: Bonfim vs. Brown)
• W vs Cameron Smotherman — unanimous decision, R3 (Jun 14, 2025, UFC Fight Night: Usman vs. Buckley)
• W vs Javid Basharat — KO/TKO, R1 (Feb 22, 2025, UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Song)
• L vs Vinicius Oliveira — unanimous decision, R3 (Jun 29, 2024, UFC 303: Pereira vs. Prochazka 2)

Style and statistical matchup

Montel Jackson lands 3.02 significant strikes per minute at 52% accuracy; Ricky Simon lands 3.03 at 42%. The two are close on volume, so neither side can expect to win rounds on activity alone. On the other side of the exchange, Montel Jackson absorbs 1.4 per minute with 60% striking defence and Ricky Simon absorbs 3.9 with 61%.

On the ground, Montel Jackson averages 2.71 takedowns per 15 minutes at 63% accuracy and defends 67% of attempts against him; Ricky Simon averages 4.49 at 41% and defends 76%.

All of these are career-to-date UFC Stats snapshots at capture, not as-of figures for this bout: they describe each fighter across every opponent, which is why the archive form above is read alongside them rather than replaced by them.

Round-level UFC Stats exist for 31 archived rounds of Montel Jackson's: 413 of 768 significant strikes landed (54%), 13.3 per round, 25 of 41 takedowns, 43:41 of control time and 12 knockdowns. Round-level UFC Stats exist for 46 archived rounds of Ricky Simon's: 651 of 1555 significant strikes landed (42%), 14.2 per round, 55 of 147 takedowns, 62:34 of control time and 5 knockdowns. Those samples are small and uneven, so they colour the career averages rather than override them.

What could break the angle

Here is where the read could be wrong. Career averages are career-to-date snapshots at capture; they include fights outside this matchup context and are not as-of figures. There is also no odds snapshot in PropBetEdge data for this bout, so nothing above can be checked against a market yet; the read describes what to look for, not where value sits. A late weigh-in miss, a replacement or a change in scheduled rounds would each invalidate parts of it.

Final read

On the data, Montel Jackson's 6.5 inches of reach is the one material physical edge, and what it is worth depends on pace figures our tables do hold. The uncertainty is ordinary fight variance rather than missing data. What to monitor: the three-round format holding, the weigh-in, and once a price exists, where the moneyline, fight goes the distance, method of victory, round betting and significant strikes markets open relative to this read. No model price or market line exists in PropBetEdge data for this bout, so this is not a pick; the Bettor's Edge panel above carries the impact score and the markets connected to the evidence.

Matchup page: Montel Jackson vs. Ricky Simon · Full card: UFC Fight Night: Rosas Jr. vs. Barcelos · Fighter pages: Montel Jackson, Ricky Simon.