-Weili Zhang: UPSET SPECIAL: Casual fans might be surprised by the betting odds and my pick here, but despite only having a 3-0 UFC record, Zhang is very legit. 30 years old. 19-1 pro record. Plus striking. Above average grappling. And pretty impressive she dominated gate keeper Tecia Torres in only her 3rd UFC fight. Jessica Andrade is only 27 years old. 11-4 in the UFC overall. 7-1 UFC record at 115 lbs. Plus striking. Average grappling. She did just win the title knocking out Rose Namajunas with a slam, but I think it was a fluke win. Namajunas won the 1st round before the slam in the 2nd round. Slam knockouts are so rare in the UFC, I’ve only seen maybe 3 or 4 in the 16 years I’ve been watching MMA. If Andrade and Namajunas rematch, I think Namajunas wins. This fight with Andrade and Zhang is a real coin flip. It’s hard to predict because Zhang has had only 3 UFC fights. But the blue print to beat Andrade at 115 lbs is out there. Joanna Jedrzejczyk showed that if you can survive the first one and a half rounds with Andrade’s power, she’ll slow down, gas out and you can out strike her. I think that’s what’s most likely to happen here. Andrade will get the better of Zhang in the 1st round. 2nd round will be real close. But Zhang will take over in the last 3 rounds to win by decision and become new champion.
-Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos: Dos Santos is one of the most under rated fighters in the UFC. 32 years old. 7-1 in the UFC. Only loss was in his UFC debut, a split decision loss against the also under rated Nicolas Dalby. Has knockouts over Sean Strickland and Omari Akhmedov. Submission win over Curtis Millender. Has plus striking. Now, Li Jingliang does have a shiny 8-3 UFC record. 31 years old. But the quality of competition he’s beat isn’t that great. The best opponent he’s beat? Maybe Frank Camacho by decision. He’s got a 16-5 pro record. 6 knockouts. 5 submissions. But all 5 submissions are via guillotine choke. Which doesn’t work that often in the UFC anymore. I grade him as having above average striking and average grappling. I don’t see a path for Jingliang to win. This fight will play out on the feet. But Dos Santos will win by decision because of how durable Jingliang is.
-Mark de la Rosa: I figure when the odds come out, Kai Kara-France will be a big favorite. But I see this fight as more of a coin flip. Kara-France is 26 years old. 2-0 in the UFC so far. 19-7 pro record. Out struck Elias Garcia. Beat Raulian Paiva by split decision. Above average striking with average power. De la Rosa is 24 years old. 2-2 UFC record. 2 guys he lost to are contenders. Tim Elliott and Alex Perez. Above average grappling and wrestling. I’m picking de la Rosa because I’m not convinced Kara-France is some rising contender. Mainly because I think he’s one dimensional and won’t be able to stop de la Rosa’s take downs. I like the upset. De la Rosa by 2nd round submission.
-Movsar Evloev: Evloev is a top prospect. 25 years old. 11-0 pro record. 1-0 in the UFC so far. Decision win over Sung Woo Choi. And not only has he beat a lot of top prospects outside the UFC, but he’s finished a few as well. Very well rounded. Above average striking, above average wrestling, above average submissions. And this fight is actually a rematch. Evloev beat Lu Zhenhong 4 years ago. Zhenhong is 26 years old. 16-6 pro record. Average striking. Has gotten better. Won 9 out of his last 10 fights. But Evloev has the mental edge of winning the first fight and is better everywhere. 1st round submission win for Evloev.
-Wu Yanan: Mizuki Inoue started her pro career at 17 years old and she’s come a long way in the last 7 years. Now 24 years old. 13-5 pro record, but she has fought a lot of UFC caliber competition. Has lost to Alexa Grasso and Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Has wins over Bec Rawlings and Viviane Pereira. Has above average grappling. Meanwhile Yanan really broke out in her last fight. 23 years old. 10-2 pro record. 1-1 UFC record. Lost to Gina Mazany. And I thought Lauren Mueller would take down Yanan and win with her wrestling. But Yanan tapped her in an armbar to pick up her 2nd career submission. Above average striking. And based off that Mueller win, I now grade her grappling as average. Now, Inoue has the better grappling. But I don’t think it’s so much better that she’s able to take Yanan down and keep her there. I think majority of the fight is on the feet and Yanan will eventually land a power shot in the 2nd round to knock Inoue out.
-Song Kenan: I don’t see anyway Derrick Krantz wins this fight. He’s in the UFC because the UFC needed a short notice opponent for Vicente Luque. Krantz is 31 years old. 23-11 pro record. He’s well rounded, but all his tools are below average. Kenan is better everywhere. 14-4 pro record. 2-1 UFC record. Has average striking and average grappling. Krantz will probably try and grapple, but I’m picking a 2nd round Kenan knockout.
-Anthony Hernandez: Hernandez took on a tall order in his UFC debut in Markus Perez, but there’s no shame in losing to him. Hernandez is still a top prospect at 25 years of age. 7-1 pro record. 1-1 in the UFC. He beat UFC fighter Brendan Allen by decision and knocked out a well rounded 9-0 opponent. Hernandez has above average grappling and average striking. Jun Yong Park is 28 years old. 9-3 pro record. He’s lost to a 5-4 striker. All of his tools are below average. His striking and grappling are about equal. Hernandez is better than Park everywhere, but I’ll go with Hernandez getting the fight to the ground and submitting Park in the 1st round.
-Andre Soukhamthath: Soukhamthath looks to have a successful future as a lower tier gate keeper in the UFC, despite the 2-4 UFC record. 30 years old. He’s been getting better. Has average striking paired with above average power. And he’s got average wrestling. Su Madaerji is a decent prospect and will only get better at 23 years of age. Got submitted by Louis Smolka in his UFC debut. No shame. He’s beaten some decent prospects. Has above average striking. But Madaerji is one dimensional and lacks take down defense. That was especially shown when he got submitted by a 10-4 grappler. Soukhamthath is going to take Madaerji down and will win by TKO ground and pound in the 1st round.
-Khadis Ibragimov: Ibragimov is taking this fight on a couple week’s notice but it doesn’t matter. He’s an elite prospect. 24 years old. 8-0 pro record. Has multiple wins over quality prospects. And even though only 2 of Ibragimov’s wins have come by knockout, in his last fight, he took on a 7-0 striker and Ibragimov knocked him out. Above average striking, above average wrestling, average submissions. Da Un Jung is 31 years old. 10-2 pro record. All his wins are over cans except his last fight, he did knock out a 6-1 grappler. I think Ibragimov could out strike Jung if he wanted to, but I see him taking Jung down and submitting him. 2nd round.
-Damir Ismagulov: Thiago Moises is 24 years old. 2-1 UFC record. Has average striking and grappling. And he’ll have nothing for elite prospect Ismagulov. 28 years old. 2-0 in the UFC so far. Beat a top striking prospect and top grappling prospect. Beat a bunch of top prospects outside the UFC. Above average striking. Above average wrestling. The only place Moises would be better in this fight would be on the ground, on top. Ismagulov’s wrestling will make sure the fight stays on the feet. And Ismagulov will out strike Moises and cruise to a decision win.
-Danaa Batgerel: Heili Alateng is 27 years old. 12-7-1 pro record. Flyweight. And I thought maybe Alateng has all these losses because he was losing to much bigger 135 lb and 145 lb fighters. And he does have some loses to the bigger guys. But he’s lost to below average 125 lb competition too. He has won 8 of his last 10 fights. But all wins were over cans. He lost to a quality prospect and fought a well rounded journeyman to a draw. He’s well rounded, but all tools are below average. And to make matters worse, Alateng is taking this fight on short notice at 135 lbs. Batgerel is 30 years old. He’s a true bantamweight. Will be much bigger in the fight. 6-1 pro record. He’s got a win over Kai Kara-France but that was years ago before Kara-France is who he is today. All other wins over cans. Average striking. Fight will play out on the feet. Batgerel has much better striking. I expect a knockout by the 2nd round.
-Karol Rosa: Rosa is 24 years old. 11-3 pro record. Lost to Larissa Pacheco and UFC fighter Melissa Gatto. She also lost by majority decision to a 4-3 fighter. Average striking. Looking at Lara Procopio, 23 years old. 6-0. All wins over cans. Her striking and grappling are close to average but not quite. Which means Rosa will have the best tool in the fight. And with the vast experience advantage Rosa has, I think her take down defense will be good enough to make this a stand up fight where she can out point Procopia to win by decision.