Sergey Spivak – Decision (Spivak, at his core, remains a grinding wrestler who can expose the one-trick nature of many Heavyweights. Despite all the memes, Lewis is a very difficult fighter to pin down to the mat. There is reason to believe that we may have witnessed a physical decline in Lewis over his past two losses, however. If not for such a perceived decline, Lewis would have to be favoured in the stylistic match-up. Spivak is deathly slow on the feet, despite refining his fundamentals over his UFC tenure, and is primed to walk on to a Black Beast highlight reel)
Kennedy Nzechukwu – TKO Round 2 (At his core, Cutelaba remains a consistently aggressive fighter who strings together haymakers and relentlessly pursues takedowns. Nzechukwu represents the polar opposite – a slow, methodical striker but one who has the durability and risk aversion to buy himself enough time warm into contests. Putting my faith in the African Savage off the back of the humiliating domination of Karl Roberson on the mat)
Chase Sherman – TKO Round 2 (Sharing a similar opponent, Salsa Boy somehow stunk out a worse performance against Jared Vanderaa than Sherman. Cortes-Acosta is a heavy-pressure fighter, but he failed to impose his pace on one of the worst UFC Heavyweights in recent memory. If Cortes-Acosta lands his hands early, Sherman can mentally collapse, but it’s a coin-flip between a fighter down bad and a fighter just plain bad)
Andre Fialho – TKO Round 1 (Fialho carries freak power, yet often fights in such a reserved manner that it allowed Jake Matthews to jab his head off. While I am backing Fialho to find the kill switch eventually, it won’t be a pretty affair against a more confident opponent at mid-distance. The physical decline on show against Jingliang Li suggests that the 38-year-old Russian may experience a damaging career twilight)
Jack Della Maddalena – TKO Round 2 (Considering the difficulty that Roberts has with defensive footwork, the Aussie should be able to walk Roberts into a preferential firefight. As the more dynamic combination puncher with a penchant for bodywork, Roberts could be broken surprisingly early. Hot Chocolate isn’t an efficient takedown artist, but the threat alone could create enough questions for Maddelena to blunt his front-foot danger. More likely is that Maddalena implements a pace that the Brit can no longer match)
Charles Johnson – Decision (Johnson was thoroughly out-wrestled by Mokaev, but he showed a deep gas tank and the ability to return to his feet. This could be a razor-thin decision based on how relentlessly Zhumagulov pursues takedowns. On the feet, though, Johnson can ply away with straight shots – even if he is highly unlikely to crack Zhako’s granite chin)
Jennifer Maia – Decision (In a rare match-up where Maia can match the pace of her opponent, her unbreakable chin and physical grappling could well grind down Moroz. The Ukrainian has struggled to keep herself standing throughout her career and will be taxed hard as she is forced to operate off the back foot for the full fifteen minutes. Maia has shown in recent fights that she can be frozen into hopeless kickboxing affairs, but Moroz lacks the defensive swiftness to fully punish Maia’s lacking fight IQ)
Miles Johns – Decision (Chris Gutierrez and Jonathan Martinez both stripped Morales of his skilful pocket boxing by chewing up his lead leg. If Morales fights passively at distance, Johns’ carries the power to dictate early exchanges and bank early rounds. Still, Morales has regularly shown the ability to rally late into contests while Johns continues to struggle to implement his underutilised wrestling base)
Ricky Turcios – Decision (TUF victor, Ricky Turcios, was picked apart by Aiemann Zahabi over three uninteresting rounds where he landed just 11% of his 235 strikes. Turcios, simply, needs to sit into his punches and commit to exchanges. Even without any fundamental changes, Natividad is a winnable fight off the back of his refusal to fight on the fight)
Maria Oliveira – Decision (A difficult fight to call considering the major flaws of both fighters. Spider Girl owns an imposing frame and a willingness to unload heavy volume. Oliveira’s lacking TDD and loss of form over extended exchanges suggest an area that Vanessa Demopoulos can exploit. Demopoulos by submission or Oliveira to out-work the Greek over the stretch)
Brady Hiestand – Decision (A ferocious grappler, Hiestand likely lacks the chin to continue such a game plan up the ladder. Against Fernie Garcia, a heavy-handed boxer, the 23-year-old could be starched early doors in pursuit of takedowns. It’s always safer to back the aggressive, proven wrestler, however)
Tereza Bleda – Decision (At just 25 years old, the world looked at Silva’s feet after humiliating Jasmine Jasudavicius. Denying Jasudavicus of all six takedowns, landing almost triple the strikes on the feet and incorporating two of her own takedowns – it was a performance that Silva had yet to produce in her career. Bleda, however, is a phenomenal athlete and capable of shutting-out opponents on the mat. Despite the Czech prospect being very hittable on the feet, the athletic gap feels like a bridge too far)
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