-Kelvin Gastelum: Not too many fighters are 26 years old and already have 11 UFC fights. And not too many of those that do have as good a record as Gastelum has which is 8-3. He’s only going to continue to get better and won’t even be in his prime for another couple years. To be blunt, this is a pretty easy fight to pick. The majorty of the MMA industry never looked at Michael Bisping as the best middleweight in the world. Barely beating Thales Leites and an over the hill Anderson Silva. Got lucky against Luke Rockhold. And barely edged out a retiring Dan Henderson. Plus, Bisping is taking this fight literally 3 weeks after he lost the title to GSP on November 4. Bisping is already planning his retirement fight next year and I don’t think he’s prepared to fight someone like Gastelum, who potentially is a better middleweight than GSP. I think Gastelum is going to catch Bisping with a punch and then sink in a choke on the ground to finish the fight in the 2nd round.
-Jingliang Li: Straight forward fight to pick. Zak Ottow has proven not to be than great. Very plan. Well rounded. No stand out tools. 30 years old. Close to a finished product. 3 UFC fights. 1 split decision win, 2 split decision losses. Li, meanwhile, has really started to come into his own and is the UFC’s best Chineese prospect, by far, with a 5-2 UFC record. Li hasn’t beaten the best competition, but Li has beaten better fighters than Ottow already. I’m picking Li by 2nd round knockout.
-Alex Caceres: I’m sorry, but just because you have a 16-1 record doesn’t make you a top prospect. You have to look at the quality of opponents the fighter has defeated. And Guan Wang has defeated only a couple average prospects. Wang is 31 years old, so he’s in his prime now. And he’s never fought someone on the level of Caceres. What makes me think Wang is going to be able to beat Caceres? Caceres has a 8-8 record in the UFC and is still only 29 years old. He’s a solid, lower tier gatekeeper who has beaten 8 other fighters, most who have better resumes than Wang. I like Caceres here. He’s more of a known quantity. Look for him to win by decision.
-Muslim Salikhov: Salikhov is a very good 170 lb prospect. He even has knockout wins over 2 UFC vets in his last 2 fights: Melvin Guillard and Ivan Jorge. Alex Garcia might have a 4-3 record and look like a potential lower tier gatekeeper, but his wins aren’t as great as you might think. 2 of the 4 wins were over fighters at the very end of their careers in Mike Swick and Mike Pyle. Matter of fact, Garcia was both of their last career fights. Then Garcia has a win over Ben Wall who went 0-2 in the UFC and a split decision win over Sean Spencer, who went 3-5 in the UFC. Stylisitically, the UFC made this fight to make Salikhov look good. He’s a knockout artist and Garcia is the type of fighter that’s willing to stand and trade. But Garcia’s striking is nowhere near the level of Salikhov and I’m expecting a 2nd round knockout.
-Zabit Magomedsharipov: Zabit is probably in the top 3 best 145 lb prospects in the world. And he’s going to have no problem submitting Sheymon Moraes. Not that Moraes is terrible. He’s a pretty good prospect and has beat some big names in the prospect circle like Pedro Nobre. But Moraes has a big flaw in his game with bad takedown defense. He’s even had a couple fights against older, journeyman fighters and barely eked out split decision wins due to not being able to defend the takedown. Zabit is elite not just because of his accurate, creative striking, but because he’s so well rounded and can finish the fight anywhere. I see Zabit eventually taking Moraes down and finding a way to submit him in the 1st round.
-Bobby Nash: Easy fight to pick. Nash is an average prospect. But is off to a 0-2 start in the UFC. But he’s going to have no problem with Kenan Song. Song is making his UFC debut, but is actually coming off a loss in his last fight against Elnur Agaev, who has a 10-5 record. And if Song couldn’t even beat a below average fighter like Agaev, he’s not going to be able to beat a better fighter in Nash, especially when you add in the nerves and UFC jitters Song will feel. I like Nash to win by decision.
-Kailin Curran: UPSET SPECIAL 1: I’m not 100% sure, but I think Curran might be the only fighter with a 1-5 record in the UFC that hasn’t been released. It’s probably because Curran puts on exciting fights and has been getting better every time out at 26 years old. Xiaonan Yan is 28 years old and 7-1, but she hasn’t beaten any quality opponents. All tomato cans. Curran is going to be too big a step up in competition, plus Yan making her UFC debut, it’ll be too much for her. I like Curran’s experience and development path to carry her to a decision win.
-Song Yadong: It’s funny. Originally, I was picking Bharat Khandare to beat Pingyuan Liu. But Liu is hurt and in steps 22 year old Yadong, who is ironically a much tougher opponent for Khandare. And I wasn’t super confident in Khandare to begin with. He lost his last fight to someone with a 4-2 record. Khandare’s record is 5-2. 28 years old. Even though Yadong is fighting on 1 week’s notice, I like him to win this fight due to his experience of facing much better competition than Khandare. Yadong has experience against some top prospects and did OK. He has a 9-3 record with a couple wins over solid prospects. I think Yadong will win by decision.
-Chase Sherman: UPSET SPECIAL 2: Very competitive fight here. Sherman has a 2-2 UFC record. Shamil Abdurakhimov has a 2-2 UFC record. But Abdurakhimov has proven that he can be knocked out faster fighters with better striking. And that’s the type of guy Sherman is. Plus he’s 28 years old, which is young for a heavyweight. So we’re probably going to see the best Sherman yet. Main thing that will determine the fight will be if Abdurakhimov can take Sherman down, keep Sherman pushed against the fence, like he did when he beat Walt Harris. But I don’t think he’ll be able to, so I’m picking Sherman by 2nd round knockout.
-Gina Mazany: Yanan Wu has a 9-1 record, is 21 years old, and appears to be a good prospect, but she hasn’t beaten anybody. The only opponent she’s fought with a decent record was Yana Kunitskaya and Wu got knocked out in the 2nd round. Mazany is very green in that she’s only had 5 pro fights, but 2 of them have been in the UFC. Losses to title contenders Juliana Pena and Sara McMann. She hasn’t beaten a quality opponent yet either, but this is another fight where experience will play a big factor, with Mazany not already having 2 fights in the UFC, but against contenders. So I like Mazany to cruise here and win the decision.
-Rolando Dy: I don’t really know why the UFC signed Lijiburen Wu. He has a 8-3 record, but has lost his last 3 out of 5 fights. And losing to pretty poor competition. Dy doesn’t have a great record either at 8-6 overall and is 0-2 in the UFC, but he’s 26 years old and was pretty competitive in his last fight against Teruto Ishihara. A lot of the losses Dy has is against quality competition and I think his experience and sharper skills will translate into a decision win.
-Cyril Asker: Asker is 1-2 in the UFC, but he’s lost to 2 really good fighters in Walt Harris and Jared Cannonier. And he has a solid resume outside the UFC beating and finishing some really good prospects. His opponent Hu Yaozong is extremely green and taking this fight on a week’s notice. He’s 3-0 and way too green to win against a seasoned vet like Asker. The combined record of Yaozong’s three opponents is 1-6. That’s pretty bad! Hu is going to be in over his head and I like Asker to win by 1st round knockout.