my ufc 209 picks. feel free to make money off of them. my average is 2 out of 3 correct. as a side note, if you google “mma prospects”, my mmaprospects.net website still ranks on the 1st page of google haha. i need to do something with that website. either sell it or start doing something with it. i still enjoy ranking the best mma prospects. anyway, here’s my picks.
-main event is tough to pick because you never know which tyron woodley shows up. the one that knocked out robbie lawler in 2 mins or the one that stunk up the building against kelvin gastelum. i picked woodley in the first fight with stephen thompson. but im going to have to pick thompson in the rematch. ive seen woodley lose and mentally get rattled too many times. hes not consistent fight in and fight out. but i wouldnt be surprised by a woodley knockout. it’s just impossible to know which woodley shows up. i think thompson will catch him with more technical striking.
-lando vanatta and david teymur is the type of fight id put a bit of money on. vanatta and teymur lack star power, but theyre both blue chip, elite prospects and i see this fight as pretty close to a pick em, yet the sports books have as high as a +335 underdog. that’s crazy to me and id put a good amount of money on teymur. but for the purpose of picking the fight, i see vanatta winning by close decision. i think vanatta will outstrike teymur.
-i’m really pulling for rashad evans. he’s had a hard time getting medical clearance to fight again and he was finally approved and the fight against dan kelly is smart booking by the ufc. kelly looks like a very good prospect at 12-1, but there’s blemishes. he’s 39. he’s done ok against average competition. hasn’t had a big fight in the ufc yet, for good reason. evans health and fight mileage is in question, but he should have enough left to beat kelly. whether evans is able to knock kelly out will be a good indication of how back rashad is.
-cynthia carvillo shouldnt have any problems with amanda cooper. carvillo is a very good prospect with a win over fellow blue chip prospect apsen ladd. carvillo could be a future title contender at 115 lbs.
-i do think alistair overeem has become a better, more patient fight at the jackson-wink camp. his striking is on a different level than mark hunt’s and overeem is probably going to knock out hunt being much faster.
-luis henrique and marcin tybura are both 2 really good heavyweight prospects. close fight. but i think its a bad matchup for tybura. i think henrique will be able to take tybura down and submit him. sportsbooks have tybura as the favorite.
-darren elkins is what youd consider a gatekeeper. he beats non elite fighters by outwrestling them, but mirsad bektic’s wrestling is just as good and is a horrible matchup for elkins. bektic is a future title contender at featherweight and should tko elkins in the 1st or 2nd.
-iuri alcantara is a pretty good featherweight and i thought luke sanders would be a pretty good upset special, but it seems sanders is more well known than i thought as the bookies have sanders as a slight favorite. sanders could be another title contender at featherweight, has beaten very good fighters in the minors and should have a coming out party overwhelming alcantara.
-daniel spitz vs mark godbeer is a hard fight to pick because spitz is such an unknown commodity. he’s finished amateur fighters, had a decision win over cabbage correira. to me, he’s pretty green and is getting his first ufc fight a little early due to godbeer needing a new opponent. godbeer isn’t the best prospect and has flaws, but godbeer should win, possibly by tko.