Joshua Van vs Alexandre Pantoja 2
- Joshua Van
- Age: 24
- UFC Record: 9-1
- Key Wins: Knocked out Tatsuro Taira, Bruno Silva, Felipe Bunes and a 7-1 wrestler. Beat Brandon Royval, Rei Tsuruya, Cody Durden, and Kevin Borjas. Split decision over Zhalgas Zhumagulov.
- Striking: near plus plus (75)
- Power: near plus plus (75)
- Wrestling: plus (70)
- Alexandre Pantoja
- Age: 36
- UFC Record: 14-4
- Key Wins: Knocked out Matt Schnell and Wilson Reis. Submitted Kai Kara France, Kai Asakura, Alex Perez, Brandon Royval, and Yuta Sasaki. Beat Steve Erceg, Brandon Moreno, and Manel Kape.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Grappling: near plus plus (75)
I think this fight is going to be very similar to Van vs Taira. Pantoja will likely take Van down but Van’s submission defense is great and I see him being able to get back to his feet repeatedly. Van’s cardio plays his striking up to close to an 80 grade as he out struck Taira 104 to 43.
Chris’ Pick: Van by 3rd round knockout.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Van -225
Arman Tsarukyan vs Mauricio Ruffy
- Arman Tsarukyan
- Age: 29
- UFC Record: 10-2
- Key Wins: Submitted Dan Hooker, a 6-0 wrestler and a 17-4 striker. Knocked out Beneil Dariush, Joaquim Silva, Joel Alvarez, Christos Giagos, and a 15-5 striker. Beat Damir Ismagulov, Davi Ramos, Matt Frevola, and a 5-1 wrestler. Split decision over Charles Oliveira.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Wrestling: near plus plus (75)
- Mauricio Ruffy
- Age: 30
- UFC Record: 6-1
- Key Wins: Knocked out Michael Chandler, Rafael Fiziev, King Green, Jamie Mullarkey, a well rounded 10-1 fighter, Ronys Torres, and a well rounded 11-4 fighter. Beat James Llontop.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Wrestling: plus (70)
Chris’ Pick: Ruffy by 2nd round knockout.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Ruffy -135
Patricio Pitbull vs Doo Ho Choi
- Patricio Pitbull
- Age: 39
- Pro Record: 37-8
- UFC Record: 1-2
- Key Wins: Knocked out Michael Chandler, Jeremy Kennedy, Diego Nunes, and Justin Wilcox. Submitted Emmanuel Sanchez and Daniel Straus. Beat Dan Ige, Juan Archuleta, and Pat Curran.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Grappling: plus (70)
- Doo Ho Choi
- Age: 35
- UFC Record: 6-3-1
- Key Draws: Fought Kyle Nelson to a majority draw.
- Key Wins: Knocked out Daniel Santos, Nate Landwehr, Bill Algeo, Thiago Tavares and Sam Siscilia.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Wrestling: plus (70)
Chris’ Pick: Choi by split decision.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Choi -135
Gable Steveson vs Sean Sharaf
- Gable Steveson
- Age: 26
- Pro Record: 4-0
- UFC Record: 1-0
- Key Wins: Knocked out Elisha Ellison and a well rounded 11-3 fighter.
- Striking: near plus (65)
- Power: near plus (65)
- Wrestling: plus (70)
- Sean Sharaf
- Age: 33
- Pro Record: 4-2
- UFC Record: 0-2
- Striking: above average (60)
- Power: above average (60)
- Wrestling: above average (60)
Steveson had a crazy pace in his UFC debut and I think he has the cardio to keep it up. He out struck Ellison 28 to 9. Striking could be a 70 already.
Chris’ Pick: Steveson by 1st round knockout.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Steveson -600
Iwo Baraniewski vs Alonzo Menifield
- Iwo Baraniewski
- Age: 27
- Pro Record: 9-0
- UFC Record: 4-0
- Key Wins: Knocked out Junior Tafa, Austen Lane, Ibo Aslan, and a 4-0 striker.
- Striking: near plus (70)
- Power: near plus (70)
- Wrestling: near plus (65)
- Grappling: above average (60)
- Alonzo Menifield
- Age: 38
- UFC Record: 13-6-1
- Key Draws: Fought Crute to a majority draw.
- Key Wins: Submitted Jimmy Crute. Knocked out Mingyang Zhang, Misha Cirkunov, Paul Craig, a 9-1 grappler, and a well rounded 8-1 fighter. Beat Oumar Sy, Dustin Jacoby. Split decision over Julius Walker.
- Striking: near plus (65)
- Power: near plus (65)
- Wrestling: near plus (65)
It’s tempting to look at Menifield’s fight with Zhang and think that maybe he’s turning a corner and maybe leveling up to 70 tools, but he’s 38 years old with 20 career UFC fights. So probably more likely I was too high on Zhang. Baraniewski, I really have no idea if his striking is a 70 because his fights end so fast.
Chris’ Pick: Baraniewski by 1st round knockout.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Baraniewski -200
Marlon Vera vs Charles Jourdain
- Marlon Vera
- Age: 33
- UFC Record: 15-10
- Key Losses: Lost a controversial decision to Yadong Song. Split decision loss to Aiemann Zahabi.
- Key Wins: Submitted Brian Kelleher. Knocked out Dominick Cruz, Frankie Edgar, Sean O’Malley, Frankie Saenz and Andre Ewell. Beat Pedro Munhoz, Rob Font, and Davey Grant.
- Striking: near plus (65)
- Power: near plus (65)
- Grappling: near plus (65)
- Charles Jourdain
- Age: 30
- UFC Record: 3-0 at 135 lbs. 9-7-1
- Key Losses: Split decision loss to Sean Woodson. Majority decision loss to Shane Burgos.
- Key Draws: Split draw to an 8-1 strike
- Key Wins: Knocked out Doo Ho Choi. Submitted Davey Grant, Victor Henry, Ricardo Ramos, Lando Vannata and a 9-3 striker. Beat Kyler Phillips. Kron Gracie and Andre Ewell.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Wrestling: near plus (65)
- Grappling: above average (60)
After seeing the striking between Jourdain and Phillips be close to equal, there’s a slight possibility that Jourdain’s striking is closer to a 65.
Chris’ Pick: Jourdain by decision.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Jourdain -200
Tai Tuivasa vs Robelis Despaigne
- Tai Tuivasa
- Age: 33
- UFC Record: 8-10
- Key Losses: Submitted by Serghei Spivac.
- Key Wins: Knocked out Derrick Lewis, Augusto Sakai, Greg Hardy, and Cyril Asker. Beat Andrei Arlovski.
- Striking: above average (60)
- Power: above average (60)
- Wrestling: a little above average (55)
- Robelis Despaigne
- Age: 38
- Pro Record: 6-2
- UFC Record: 1-2
- Key Wins: Knocked out Josh Parisian.
- Striking: near plus (65)
- Power: near plus (65)
- Wrestling: a little above average (55)
Just a couple years, Despaigne out struck title contender Waldo Cortes Acosta 26 to 15. Will be interesting to see if he’s improved his wrestling for his second UFC stint.
Chris’ Pick: Despaigne by 1st round knockout.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Despaigne -250
Michael Aswell Jr vs Joo Sang Yoo
- Michael Aswell Jr
- Age: 25
- Pro Record: 11-5
- UFC Record: 1-4
- Key Losses: Split decision loss to Bogdan Grad
- Key Wins: Knocked out Lucas Almeida, a 5-2 grappler and an 11-4 striker.
- Striking: above average (60)
- Power: above average (60)
- Wrestling: above average (60)
- Joo Sang Yoo
- Age: 32
- Pro Record: 9-1
- UFC Record: 1-1
- Key Wins: Knocked out Jeka Saragih. Beat a 5-1 striker.
- Striking: near plus (65)
- Power: near plus (65)
- Wrestling: above average (60)
Yoo has had 2 fights in the UFC but only has maybe 6 minutes of cage time. Small sample. And he got knocked out by Santos last time out but Yoo out struck him 30 to 18. So it’s very possible the striking could be as high as a 70.
Chris’ Pick: Yoo by 1st round knockout.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Yoo -300
Ryan Gandra vs Ozzy Diaz
- Ryan Gandra
- Age: 31
- Pro Record: 10-1
- UFC Record: 3-0
- Key Wins: Knocked out Zachary Reese, a well rounded 8-2 fighter, a well rounded 4-0 fighter, a 3-0 striker, and a 13-4 grappler.
- Striking: near plus (65)
- Power: near plus (65)
- Wrestling: above average (60)
- Ozzy DIaz
- Age: 35
- Pro Record: 10-4
- UFC Record: 1-3
- Key Wins: Submitted a 5-2 striker. Knocked out Bevon Lewis and a 3-0 striker. Beat Djorden Santos.
- Striking: near plus (65)
- Power: near plus (65)
- Grappling: above average (60)
Chris’ Pick: Gandra by 1st round knockout.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Gandra -135
Edmen Shahbazyan vs Brunno Ferreira
- Edmen Shahbazyan
- Age: 28
- UFC Record: 10-6
- Key Wins: Knocked out Andre Muniz, Dylan Budka, AJ Dobson, Dalcha Lungiambula, Brad Tavares, and Charles Byrd. Beat Andre Petroski.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Wrestling: plus (70)
- Brunno Ferreira
- Age: 33
- UFC Record: 7-4
- Key Wins: Submitted Jackson McVey, Armen Petrosyan, and a 3-1 striker. Knocked out Dustin Stoltzfus, Phil Hawes, Gregory Rodrigues, a well rounded 10-1 fighter, and a well rounded 10-3 fighter. Beat Marvin Vettori.
- Striking: near plus (65)
- Power: near plus (65)
- Grappling: near plus (65)
Chris’ Pick: Shahbazyan by 1st round knockout.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Shahbazyan -250
Casey O’Neill vs Eduarda Moura
- Casey O’Neill
- Age: 28
- UFC Record: 6-2
- Key Wins: Knocked out Gabriella Fernandes, Antonina Shevchenko and Shana Dobson. Beat Luana Santos and a 4-1 striker. Split decision over Roxanne Modafferi.
- Striking: near plus (65)
- Power: near plus (65)
- Wrestling: near plus (65)
- Eduarda Moura
- Age: 32
- UFC Record: 4-2
- Key Losses: Split decision loss to Denise Gomes.
- Key WIns: Submitted a 5-0 striker. Knocked out Montserrat Conejo and a 6-3 striker. Beat Lauren Murphy and Veronica Hardy.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Wrestling: near plus plus (75)
- Grappling: plus (70)
O’Neill came back from a year and a half layoff and actually looked improved. Striking could be as high as a 70.
Chris’ Pick: Moura by decision.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Moura -225
Giga Chikadze vs Joanderson Brito
- Giga Chikadze
- Age: 38
- UFC Record: 8-5
- Key Wins: Knocked out Edson Barboza and Cub Swanson. Beat Alex Caceres, Omar Morales. Split decision wins over Jamall Emmers and Brandon Davis.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Wrestling: near plus (65)
- Joanderson Brito
- Age: 31
- UFC Record: 8-3
- Key Losses: Split decision loss to William Gomis.
- Key Wins: Submitted Jordan Leavitt, Jonathan Pearce, Lucas Alexander, a well rounded 5-0 fighter, and a 6-0 grappler. Knocked out Jack Shore, Westin Wilson, Andre Fili, and a well rounded 9-3 fighter. Beat Isaac Thomson.
- Striking: plus (70)
- Power: plus (70)
- Grappling: near plus (65)
Chris’ Pick: Brito by 1st round knockout.
What odds I think the favorite should be at: Brito -135