The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns with a smaller event after the massive pay-per-view fight card last week. In this edition, we have the main event between Thiago Santos and Jamahal Hill. As for the full card of this UFC Fight Night, we have some promising bouts between rising stars.
UFC Fight Night Predictions: Prelims
Mayra Bueno Silva vs Stephanie Egger (Women's Bantamweight Bout)
Mayra Bueno Silva Preview
Bueno Silva is a BJJ brown belt and is the most dangerous on the ground. If she manages to get on the canvas, she immediately goes to a position convenient for holding a painful submission. Mayra won 5 of 8 victories by submissions.
Stephanie Egger Preview
Stephanie's base is judo. She holds a black belt in this discipline. In 2010, she became the European champion in judo, took gold at the Swiss Judo Championship three times, and became the European champion in grappling twice.
In the octagon, Egger relies on a quick approach to the opponent, an effective transfer with further control and improvement of the position. As soon as the opponent makes a mistake, Stephanie immediately goes to the submission hold.
In the stand, Stephanie demonstrates good kickboxing training. She has a strong punch and works effectively with short combinations.
Silva vs Egger Prediction
All that Mayra Bueno Silva can offer is groundwork and attempts to get to the submission hold. But Stephanie, in my opinion, is stronger in grappling than the Brazilian. Mayra attacks well, but at the same time, she loses ground and is easy to control. If the Brazilian makes a mistake while improving the position, then Egger will sweep her and start to control her.
Jason Witt vs Josh Quinlan (Welterweight Bout)
Jason Witt Preview
Witt is a basic wrestler and is most dangerous on the ground. He is good at bringing opponents to the canvas and controlling them at the bottom. In addition, the fighter has a wide arsenal of painful techniques. 8 out of 19 victories he got by submissions.
Witt has a disgusting stance. He forgets about protection, lowers his arms, and flies at an opponent with an open jaw, trying to get close to him. Given Jason's weak grip, it's no surprise that he was knocked out three times in the UFC. 6 of Jason's 8 losses are knockouts.
Josh Quinlan Preview
Josh is an all-around black belt fighter in BJJ. If he succeeds in dragging the opponent to the ground, then he methodically improves the position until he begins to perform a painful submission. In the stand, Quinlan relies on knockout power, fast and accurate punches. He can knock out even an unbroken opponent with an accurate hit.
Witt vs Quinlan Prediction
Jason Witt will face yet another dangerous puncher. Considering that he approaches the opponent from fight to fight without protecting his head, then there is a high probability that Josh will knock him out in one of the first exchanges.
On the other hand, Quinlan has never fought such as strong fighter with a BJJ background. It is not known how Josh will behave when he finds himself on the ground. Jason is an experienced grappler and can catch his opponent on a mistake.
Terrance McKinney vs Erick Gonzalez (Lightweight Bout)
Terrance McKinney Preview
Terrance is a versatile fighter with a good fighting base. He demonstrates explosive attacks and knockout power. The fighter relies on the wrestling base, shows good control, takes advantageous positions, and has a wide arsenal of painful techniques.
McKinney's defense is bad. He does not cover his takedown attempts with any technical actions, or he can fly at an opponent with an open jaw. This causes him to take a lot of extra damage in combat.
Erick Gonzalez Preview
Erick prefers to fight on his feet. He aggressively presses the opponent, doing a lot of work. I note that the fighter has knockout power. 8 out of 14 victories he won through KO/TKO.
Erick constantly has problems on the ground. Once transferred, he cannot get out of control and tries to survive until the gong, lying passively on his back.
McKinney vs Gonzalez Prediction
Erick is a tough fighter. The loss to Miller was the first knockout of his career. At the same time, I doubt that Terrance will quickly transfer the opponent to the ground and choke him there since Gonzalez has good defense against takedowns.
I also do not think that Erick will be able to quickly knock out an opponent. McKinney lost early to Dbber because he went out without preparation. He tried to get a quick victory, but he pulled out and lost concentration. Terrance will enter the fight against Gonzalez with a full training camp, which means he should not get tired quickly and will be able to survive the first round.
UFC Fight Night Predictions: Main Card
Before we reach our UFC Fight Night Predictions for the main event between Thiago Santos and Jamahal Hill, we have several brutal fights on the main card to talk about and share our MMA predictions with you.
Ariane Lipski vs Priscila Cachoeira (Women's Flyweight Bout)
Ariane Lipski Preview
Ariane's base is Muay Thai. The girl has a powerful punch and throws good and fast combinations. In the last two fights, she sent opponents to knockdowns thanks to her skills and constant pressure.
Lipski makes mistakes on the ground. Masters of BJJ can catch the Brazilian in an easy submission. Ariane doesn't think about standing defense and misses a lot of shots. In addition, Ariane has mediocre takedown defense skills, making it easy to transfer her to the canvas.
Priscila Cachoeira Preview
Cachoeira's base is kickboxing and Muay Thai. She is most dangerous in the standing position. Cachoeira aggressively presses opponents and tries to work at close and medium distances.
This allows her to mix the stance with the clinch, which she uses to take a breather and score points on it. I note that Priscilla has knockout power – she won 6 out of 11 victories by knockouts.
She has good takedown defense, but if she is transferred to canvas, she becomes helpless. Priscila quickly loses ground and can make a fatal mistake, which makes her easy to submit.
Lipski vs Cachoeira Prediction
Cachoeira performs poorly against athletes with a good wrestling base. If Priscila is transferred to the ground, then she can be easily overwhelmed and score points due to control. But Ariana Lipsky is not about wrestling. She lacks the skills to crack Cachoeira's good takedown defense, she will get stuck in the clinch, where Cachoeira will turn her back to the net, score points, and strike.
Brogan Walker vs Juliana Miller (Women's Flyweight Bout)
Brogan Walker Preview
Brogan is a versatile athlete. She builds a game plan for the fight based on the opponent's weaknesses. She controls the strikers well in the clinch and on the ground, and against wrestlers, she works effectively at medium and long distances in the stand.
But when faced with other all-rounders who have a good base in one of the martial arts, Brogan loses. So, her wrestling and stance turned out to be weaker than that of Erin Blanchfield, and her control skills were not enough to score points in a duel against Pearl Gonzalez.
Juliana Miller Preview
Juliana's base is BJJ. She regularly competes in this discipline. Therefore, the fighter poses the greatest danger when she is on the ground. Miller instantly tries to take a comfortable position and perform a submission.
But as an MMA fighter, Juliana is inexperienced. If she fails to take the fight to the ground, she gets stuck in the clinch, where she can be easily turned with her back to the net. In the standing position, Miller has poor distance control and is too direct to attack, making her punches easy to read and counterattack effectively.
Walker vs Miller Prediction
Brogan is a more experienced and versatile athlete. Due to the universality and opposition of a higher level, she should win. She will try to work in a stance at medium and long distances, carefully breaking her opponent and not giving her a chance to carry out a takedown. It will be difficult for Miller to adapt to the pressure of her opponent, so she will make mistakes. I expect a confident victory for Brogan on points or a late technical knockout.
Mohammed Usman vs Zac Pauga (Heavyweight Bout)
Mohammed Usman Preview
Mohammed is a basic wrestler and often his game plan is based on passive control of the opponent in the clinch and stalls and scoring. In recent fights, Usman began to connect with boxing and spends most of the fight on his feet, where he tries to pull the opponent apart on the jab, after which he starts working with twos: straight jab, jab hook, overhand jab. Given Usman's impressive size, this tactic pays off: he can knock out an opponent with one accurate hit.
Mohammed is a mediocre fighter. His stance isn't effective enough to hold his own against trained strikers. Usman also lacks the cardio to effectively fight 3 rounds. Closer to the middle of the battle, he loses concentration, can make a mistake, give the opponent a position and allow him to get a submission.
Zac Pauga Preview
Pauga is an all-rounder who prefers to fight in a standing position. He aggressively presses opponents, throwing a large number of fast and accurate punches. I note that Zac moves well in the octagon. Due to its high mobility, it effectively cuts corners and leaves the opponent's line of attack.
He had not yet made speeches at a high level and fought against mediocre opposition. It is not known how Pauga will behave when he finds himself in a difficult situation. There is a high probability that he will get lost and make mistakes.
Usman vs Pauga Prediction
These fighters like to drag out fights until the decision. Most likely, Usman will decide to act pragmatically and try to fight his opponent. At the same time, Mohammed will not take risks and transfer the opponent to the ground but will rely on the control in the clinch. This strategy can work since Zac is a natural light-heavyweight and he will lose to Usman in terms of size and physical power.
But if Mohammed gets tired quickly again, then Pauga will shoot him at a convenient distance. He hits faster and more accurately, but it’s unlikely that he will quickly knock out a healthy Usman.