The next fight card in the UFC Apex features a women's strawweight bout as the co-main event. The experienced Angela Hill faces the ambitious Tabatha Ricci in a curious stylistic clash. Here is our Hill vs Ricci prediction.
Hill vs Ricci Prediction: Separated by 10 Years of Fighting Experience
Angela Hill Preview
Angela “Overkill” Hill is one of the most experienced and recognizable fighters in the strawweight division. She has fought over 25 times in her long UFC career, facing some of the best in the division. At 39 years old, she rides a 17-13-0 professional record.
Hill is known for her striking and willingness to risk it all in deep exchanges. She prefers to fight on her feet and typically relies on her stamina and ability to keep up a high pace throughout the rounds. Hill has shown that her skills and conditioning remain strong in recent fights, winning four of her last five, despite her considerable age.
However, we should also note her weaknesses before we move forward with our Hill vs Ricci prediction. Her wrestling remains vulnerable, especially against opponents with strong grappling skills. She has lost to wrestlers and jiu-jitsu players on multiple occasions, which is a clear problem ahead of her fight with Tabatha Ricci. In addition, Hill's age is gradually becoming a significant factor that could affect her speed and reaction time.
Tabatha Ricci Preview
Tabatha “Baby Shark” Ricci represents a new generation of fighters with a completely different skill set. The 29-year-old Brazilian specializes in wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which are her main asset in most fights.
Ricci demonstrates excellent distance awareness and controls opponents on the ground, where she actively changes positions and seeks submissions. In recent fights, she has shown confident performances against experienced opponents like Gillian Robertson and Tecia Pennington.
But she also lost a split decision to Loopy Godinez, so there is definitely room for improvement. Her professional record is 10-2-0, which makes her significantly less experienced than Hill. However, her physical strength and aggressive style can make up for her weaknesses in striking, especially if she can get the fight to the ground quickly.
Our Angela Hill vs Tabatha Ricci Prediction
Hill will likely try to keep her distance and work the stand-up, avoiding clinches and takedown attempts. Her job is to use her stamina and technique to rack up points with her strikes, moving around the Octagon and not allowing Ricci to force a takedown.
On the other hand, Ricci will likely try to close the distance and pressure Hill actively. Her wrestling skills and ground control could be the deciding factor in this fight. Despite Hill’s ability to defend against takedowns, her wrestling defense is not perfect, especially against wrestlers of Ricci’s caliber.
Interestingly, both fighters have close chances of winning, which is emphasized by the almost equal odds of bookmakers. However, given the fighting styles and Ricci's age advantage, she looks like the preferable option to win.
Nevertheless, we would rather stay away from the money lines in this case and give a different Hill vs Ricci prediction. Since both fighters rarely finish fights early, we believe that over 2.5 rounds is the best bet for this bout. Overall, there are far easier bouts to predict on this card and you should definitely check the rest of the lineup.
