-Colby Covington: Covington would be undefeated if it wasn’t for getting ambushed by a Warlley Alves guillotine choke back in 2015. Covington is 9-1 in the UFC. 31 years old. Plus plus wrestling. Plus plus cardio. Plus submissions. Plus striking, however his power is average. The lack of knockout power would be Covington’s only real flaw. Robbie Lawler is 37 years old now. Still has plus plus power. His striking has regressed to above average. Same with the take down defense. Above average now. I think Covington’s cardio is going to be the difference in this fight. Rafael dos Anjos wore Lawler down with pace and volume strikes and Covington is even better than RDA. And I predict that Covington could even take Lawler down if he wanted to. So I’m going to go Covington by 4th round TKO via ground and pound.
-Jim Miller: Vet vs vet. Guida is 37 years old. Has above average wrestling and maybe average striking with below average power. Takes on 35 year old Jim Miller. Also has above average wrestling. Average submissions. Above average striking. This fight is likely to stay on the feet and I see Miller clearly out striking Miller, but because of how durable Guida is, this is going to be a decision win for Miller.
-Joaquim Silva: Joaquim hasn’t been the most active fighter, only had 5 fights in the last 4 years. But he’s 4-1 in the UFC. 30 years old. Has near plus striking and average grappling. His opponent Nasrat Haqparast has a lot of buzz. 23 years old. 2-1 in the UFC. He’s got close to plus striking too. But his 1 loss was against an average grappler in Marcin Held. I think Silva plays it smart and takes Haqparast down and does enough on the ground to win by decision.
-Gerald Meerschaert: I think this fight is going to be won based on Meerschaert having the best tool in the fight. 31 years old. 4-3 in the UFC but has only lost to top competition like Thiago Santos, Jack Hermansson, and Kevin Holland. Has an impressive submission win over Oskar Piechota. Has plus grappling and average striking. Trevin Giles stock fell a bit in my eyes from his last fight, getting submitted by Zak Cummings. Giles is only 26 years old. 2-1 in the UFC. Knocked out a couple lower tier grapplers, but got submitted by a better grappler in Cummings. Giles has above average striking and average grappling. But I think if Cummings was able to get a hold of Giles and tap him, there’s no reason why Meerschaert can’t do the same thing. 2nd round submission win for Meerschaert.
-Scott Holtzman: Dong Hyun Ma is 3-3 in the UFC, but only because he’s fought against weaker competition. 30 years old. Has average striking and grappling. Holtzman is a decent lower tier gate keeper. 35 years old. 5-3 UFC record. Above average wrestling, average striking, above average power. Holtzman can win anywhere he wants in the fight. But I think he knocks Ma out in the 1st round.
-Kennedy Nzechukwu: Both guys seem to have upside in the 205 lb division. Nzechukwu is 1-1 in the UFC. 27 years old. Has above average striking. Got submitted by Paul Craig. Darko Stosic is pretty similar. Same age. Same 1-1 UFC record. Same above average striking tool. But I think the quality of competition that Nzechukwu has gone against will make a difference and he was beating Craig until he got submitted. Nzechukwu lands enough to win by decision.
-Mickey Gall: This is a nice bounce back fight for Gall as he’s now lost 2 out of 3 fights but only has 7 pro fights. Gall is 27 years old. 4-2 in the UFC. Has near plus grappling. Gall’s opponent Salim Touahri is 29 years old. 0-2 UFC record. Both losses came against grapplers in Warlley Alves and Keita Nakamura. Gall’s grappling is on par with Alves and better than Nakamura. Gall will take Touahri down and do enough on the ground to win by decision.
-Antonina Shevchenko: Striker vs striker. Shevchenko is 34 years old. 2-1 in the UFC. Has plus striking with above average power. Takes on Lucie Pudilova. 2-3 UFC record, but only 25 years old. Above average striking, but it’s paired with below average power. Pretty clear cut fight. Shevchenko has better striking and more power. Only question is whether Shevchenko can finish the fight and I say yes. Shevchenko by 2nd round knockout.
-Jordan Espinosa: Matt Schnell has been making progress. He started out 0-2 in the UFC. But since then has won 3 in a row. 29 years old. Has improved his grappling enough to be considered above average. He takes on Espinosa who’s 3-0 in the UFC. 29 years old. Difference in this fight is going to be Espinosa’s improved striking which is now at least an average grade to go along with above average grappling. I expect Espinosa to keep the fight on the feet and knock Schnell out in the 2nd round.
-Lauren Murphy: Mara Borella’s last win over Talia Santos showed she can be an effective lower tier gate keeper. Borella is 32 years old. 3-1 in the UFC now. Is well rounded with average striking and grappling. I’m pretty confident in picking Murphy, despite her being an underdog. She’s just under rated due to the 2-5 UFC record, but that has more to do with her crazy strength of schedule. Losing to top 10 fighters like Nicco Montano, Sara McMann, Liz Carmouche, Katlyn Chookagian, Sijara Eubanks. All elite fighters. Murphy is 35 years old. Has above average striking. Murphy has been improving her take down defense lately, as seen in her beating Barb Honchak. I think Murphy stuffs Borella’s take downs and out points her on the feet to win by decision.
-Claudio Silva: It’s a shame Ramazan Emeev got hurt as I was really looking forward to seeing his wrestling against Silva’s grappling. In steps Cole Williams on a week’s notice. Is really a journeyman, despite the 11-1 record. He’s 35 years old. And there’s big gaps in between some of his fights. All his wins have been over cans and he doesn’t have any tools that I’d grade as average or above. Silva is 36 years old. 4-0 UFC record. Plus grappling. This fight will be over within a few minutes with Silva getting the 1st round submission.
-Hannah Goldy: Two of the best female prospects in MMA collide here. But the big difference between the two is that Goldy has looked good beating much better competition than Miranda Granger. Goldy is 27 years old. Pro record is only 2-0, but the two wins were over UFC contender Gillian Robertson and Kali Robbins, who’s a UFC caliber fighter. Goldy already has plus wrestling and a high ceiling. Granger is also 27 years old. 4-0 pro record. 3 of the wins were over cans, the last was a submission win over a 4-2 striker. Granger has at least above average grappling. It could be better but it’s hard to grade the tool as plus when she hasn’t fought any quality opponents. There’s levels in MMA and Goldy has already showed she can beat high level competition. And Goldy should have 2 pathways to win here. Either take Granger down, avoid the submissions and do enough on the ground. Or keep the fight on the feet and out strike Granger. I think Goldy does a little of both and wins by decision.