-Anthony Smith: Prepare yourself for a coming out party for Smith, who’s sneaky good. He’s been getting better by leaps and bounds the past few years but has had a break through moving up to 205 lbs where he’s not as drained from the weight cut. Shogun has been fighting only once a year since 2014 because he can’t stay healthy. He’s not an elite fighter anymore and hasn’t been since 2013. Smith is going to easily knock Shogun out in the 1st round. So easily it’s going to shock a lot of people, but that’s just because Smith has been so under the radar.
-Glover Teixeira: Corey Anderson is a quality light heavyweight. Good wrestling. Decent striking. But not elite striking. And he can be out struck. He was out struck in his last 2 losses to OSP and Jimi Manuwa. And he’s going to be out struck by Texeira in what I expect to be a 1st round knockout for Glover.
-Vitor Miranda: UPSET SPECIAL 1: Hometown fight. UFC is in Germany. UFC wants to give German fighter Abu Azaitar the most winnable fight possible. His opponent is Miranda. 3-3 in the UFC. Lost 2 in a row. 39 years old. Both strikers. On paper, seems like the younger Azaitar would be the safe pick. Problem with that though is that Azaitar only has wins over poor competition and even then as a striker, he was only able to finish 7 of his 12 wins. Meanwhile, Miranda has experience knocking out waaaaay better strikers than anybody Azaitar has ever gone against. These guys are going to stand and trade shots but Miranda will come up with the upset 1st round knockout.
-Marcin Tybura: I don’t know what happened to Stefan Struve, but if he can’t outstrike Andrei Arlovski, he’s definitely not going to be able to outstrike Tybura. I think Tybura is going to pick Struve apart with volume and will knock him out in the 3rd round.
-Marc Diakiese: Diakiese has potential because he’s such a powerful and explosive striker. It’s a plus tool. But he really needs to round out his game if he has any chance of becoming a contender. But he’s going to have no problems in this particular fight against Nasrat Haqparast, who’s 22 years old and even less well rounded than Diakiese. Diakiese has the better striking and is going to knock Haqparast out in the 1st round.
-Danny Roberts: Easy fight to pick. David Zawada is taking this fight on about 1 week’s notice. Has a 16-3 pro record but it’s padded by wins over tomato cans. Zawada hasn’t beat a single decent opponent. He’s a striker. Roberts will probably go for the easiest path to victory which would be grappling and possibly taking Zawada down. Wear him out. Cardio can’t be that great taking the fight on such short notice. And I think Roberts will submit him in the 2nd round.
-Nick Hein: Favorable match up for Germany’s own Nick Hein. He takes on Damir Hadzovic. 31 years old. 1-2 in the UFC so far. Mostly a striker. And literally just lost to another fighter who’s a bland, vanilla wrestler in Alan Patrick, who’s very similar to Hein. No frills here. Boring decision win for Hein.
-Emil Meek: Should be a fun stand up fight. But I think Meek’s striking is a tier above Bartosz Fabinski. Plus Fabinski hasn’t fought in two and a half years which doesn’t help. Fabinski is 2-0 in the UFC so far. He beat below average competition. And Meek didn’t look too terrible in losing to title contender Kamaru Usman. I think Meek learned a lot from that fight and Fabinski will be easy for him compared to Usman. I like Meek to bang out an easy decision win.
-Nad Narimani: Ok, so, Khalid Taha. Yes. He’s got a nice 12-1 pro record. 26 years old. Looks to be a pretty good striker. But if you go back just last year, he was submitted by a journeyman in Takafumi Otsuka. And if Taha had problems with Otsuka, he’ll have even bigger problems with an even better grappler in Narimani, who’s fought and beat legit prospects on his way to the UFC. Narimani wins this easy via 1st round submission.
-Justin Ledet: Ledet cutting down to 205 lbs from heavyweight surprises me a little bit, being that’s he’s still undefeated and 3-0 in the UFC so far. But he is a grappler and hasn’t been spectacular against bigger heavyweights that are harder to take down. So maybe the thinking is that he can be a giant light heavyweight and have an easier time implementing his game plan. I really liked what I saw from Aleksander Rakic in his UFC debut. His take down defense was better than I thought and he does have potential. But Ledet is just the worst match up for him as he’s a way better wrestler than first opponent Francisco Barroso. I see Ledet getting take downs early and working towards a 2nd round submission win.
-Manny Bermudez: Davey Grant is a submission guy, but Grant has lost 2 of his 3 last fights by submission. So Grant being matched up here with submission specialist and top prospect Bermudez is not going to go well for him. Bermudez by 1st round submission.
-Jeremy Kimball: UPSET SPECIAL 2: Darko Stosic could be a good prospect. 26 years old. 12-1 pro record. Cutting down to 205 lbs from heavyweight. But he only has wins over a bunch of nobodies. Never been tested. And he’s going to get a step up in competition over a decent lower tier gate keeper in Kimball who’s been much better since moving up to 205 lbs, despite going 1-2 in the UFC so far. I’m going to pick the more sure thing in Kimball and go with a 1st round knockout.
-Damian Stasniak: I really don’t know why the UFC signed Pingyuan Liu. He’s got a 11-5 pro record and only has wins over fighters with losing records. Stasniak isn’t a title contender, but isn’t terrible either. He’s 2-2 in the UFC at 135 lbs and lost to quality opponents. Stasniak will beat Liu pretty easily. Take him down and submit him in the 1st round.