Chase Hooper vs. Peter Barrett: An interesting fight to kick off the night as we have the youngest kid on the roster, Chase Hooper at age 21 facing off against an older veteran of the fight game with only one UFC fight to his name in "Slippery Pete" Barrett. In Barrett's lone UFC debut he faced off against one of the top prospects in Youssef Zalal; and to say the least it didn't go his way. Zalal dominated in the wrestling forcing Barrett to have to chase him at the end in hopes of scoring something crazy. On the flip side Chase Hooper is following up on his big loss to Alex "Bruce Leeroy" Caceras, where he got the brakes beaten off of him. Caceras pieced him up on the feet dropping Hooper in ultimately making a mockery of the poor young kid. Maybe suffering his first loss will be a good thing as he switched camps for this upcoming bout. Barrett's weaknesses plays right into Hooper's strengths. As I do believe Chase Hooper being a 4 to 1 favorite against anybody is ridiculous, I feel this is a perfect opportunity for a bounce back win.
Wilson's pick: Hooper Round 1 SUB
Sergey Spivak vs. Jared Vanderaa: After just recently watching Jared Vanderaa on the contender series in November, his dreams come true as he gets his call out in Spivak. Looking back at his bout against Hunsucker, I wasn't too overly impressed in Jared's performance. Hunsucker came out guns blazing and was actually landing his shots while looking much faster, Jared just has one hell of a chin. Hunsucker ended up gassing out, Jared took him to the ground and pounded away for a TKO stoppage. But what I took away from that fight was; it was supposed to be a layup fight for Jared where he found himself in some adversity at first. Spivak is whole different animal then when talking about Harry Hunsucker, and its a big step up in competition. Both guys have a win over Tony Lopez, so you can take that for what its worth. On the fight Sergey should have his way as the faster guy but what is going to decide this fight is who lands on top. If Spivack uses his sambo, it might get him into some trouble as Jared is the bigger man, who might be able to sit on him. The trend in low level heavyweight fights is the underdogs do cash, as we saw with Parker Porter and Jake Collier. This pick is a lean at best, as Jared is totally live here.
Wilson's pick: Spivak by DEC
Tecia Torres vs. Sam Hughes: This fight was put together this week as Sam Hughes is making her UFC debut on short notice. Sam Hughes is a good fighter as she will have the size on Tecia Torres but I don't think she is very quick nor do I like her output. Tecia Torres has faced a murder's row of opponents in Jessica Andrade, former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk and now champ Weili Zhang. But revived her career against Brianna Van Buren, I was impressed as she dominated from start to finish. I think the level of experience will play a major role as Tecia should roll here.
Wilson's pick: Torres by DEC
Gavin Tucker vs. Billy Quarantillo: Potential fight of the night up next, as Gavin Tucker takes on Billy Quarantillo. Gavin Tucker had an epic debut against Sam Sicilia where he looked like the next Cody Garbrandt, but then he got destroyed against Rick Glenn. Got dropped by Glenn and it was just one bad thing after another. I feel Tucker is always facing adversity, like the Glenn fight where a judge scored it 30-24, also you bring up Choi fight where he was arguably down 2 rounds, and you can even reference the Jaynes fight where he got dropped early in the first. For Billy Q, he had a great fight against Spike earlier in the year, and was on point vs Kyle Nelson where he had a walk off KO. I like the volume Billy Q brings, he has the height, he has the reach, and multiple paths to victory. If Tucker wants to win he has to mix in his wrestling, I just think this is a great spot for Billy.
Wilson's pick: Quarantillo by DEC
MacKenzie Dern vs. Virna Jandiroba: The two most talented grapplers in the 115 women's division face off. Dern changed camps and is now improving her striking under Jason Parillo. That is great to see as we all know she is on another level compared to most girls once the fight hits the ground. She holds a 0% takedown defense as she basically encourages the fight to go there. Virna did have a very impressive win against Herrig, where she was able to get it done in the first. For this matchup, Dern is so one-dimensional and relies heavy on her ground game way to much. Her takedown accuracy is only at a 7 percent clip, so she struggles to get the fight to the ground. Virna is the more well rounded fighter being a BJJ black belt herself, while also having a better fight IQ then most girls MacKenzie has faced in the past. I don't see Virna making a costly mistake on the ground. Dern has to add more to her game as we saw multiple times her getting pieced up the fight. Sloppy striking with just an overhand in her arsenal. I expect her to improve her striking a bit but Virna will control the pace and dictate where the fight will go
Wilson's pick: Jandiroba by DEC
Cub Swanson vs. Daniel Pineda: Pineda is on some streak as of late, as in his UFC debut he mauled Herbert Burns. Cashing in as a +220 dog in that fight, while he has been fighting some top level competition out of the UFC . Beat Movlid Khaybulaev who knocked out Damon Jackson in 14 seconds with a vicious knee, and also beat Jeremy Kennedy who is no slouch either. Pineda has won 8 out of his last 10 fights, and one of his losses coming to Emmanuel Sanchez who is a pretty good fighter right now in Bellator. For Killer Cub it's been the complete opposite. 1 win out of his last 5 fights but it was against elite competition. Losses to Ortega, Edgar, Moicano and Shane Burgos, so I guess we can give him a little bit of a pass. I wanted to take a shot at Cub as the dog but he is following two major knee surgeries(ACL and Meniscus) at the age of 37. I think this a recipe for disaster.
Wilson's pick: Pineda Round 3 TKO
JDS vs. Ciryl Gane: I'm looking forward to this fight as we have arguably the best Heavyweight prospect in Gane matching up against the former champ Dos Santos. The end is near for Junior, he has been on the UFC roster since 2008 and now knocked out 3 times in a row. His last notable win was a finish against Derrick Lewis, which is impressive but Derrick's back gave out during the fight. JDS can't take a punch like he used to, its sad to see. Now facing a versatile athlete in Ciryl Gane who is really good everywhere. He was supposed to be a knockout artist but he showed he can utilize his submission game very well. This is Gane's opportunity to show everyone how promising he really is and I feel he will get the job done.
Wilson's pick: Gane Round 2 KO
Kevin Holland vs. Ronaldo Souza: Holland is back again for the 5th time since the pandemic hit. It's amazing to see how active he has been, holding a knockout victory against Joaquin Buckley. That win has aged very well. Also a win against Darren Stewart, and two stoppage wins against Hernandez and Ontiveros all since the return of the UFC from Covid-19. Kevin Holland has a crazy reach advantage 81 inches to 72 inches. So I think Jacare is going to have to resort to his grappling against Holland. This is his major path to victory as Darren Stewart was able to out work Holland on the ground. We have to question Jacare's consistency as he is not the same guy who went to a split with Romero, the guy who badly beat Brunson in his hometown, and even the fight with Kelvin which many argue Souza won. Souza's last fight was a split decision L against the now 205 champ Blachowicz. The one thing I don't like about Holland fighting so much is that he has no time to really improve his game in the gym, it is like the same person every time out. Souza is like a terminator who keeps coming forward, and should rely on his wrestling in this match.
Wilson's pick: Souza by DEC
Rafeal Fiziev vs Renato Moicano: Renato's move up to 155 has been a good one as this is his second bout at this weight class. I think that this was a smart move for him as I felt he was big for 145. Fiziev's takedown defense is 100% so this fight is going to be primarily a kickboxing match. I was impressed on the power Fiziev brought to Diakiese in his last fight. Displaying a lot of strong body kicks and basically bullying Diakiese around. Those guys at Tiger Muay Thai don't mess around. Renato is the taller man by 3 inches but the reach is about the same. Renato is known for beating guys similar to Fiziev, like Stephens and a young Calvin Kattar. This is going to be a display of who can with stand the most punishment and push forward. I just feel Fiziev showed me something in his last fight that will really work in this upcoming fight.
Wilson's pick: Fiziev Round 3 KO
Tony Ferguson vs Charles Olivera: The people's main event, El Cucuy aka the Boogieman is back against Olivera who is on fire as of late riding that 7 fight win streak. Ferguson's last fight didn't go his way as he failed in his interim title bid ending his 12 fight win streak. He was taking so much damage in that fight and still was able to push the pace. Showing how tough that man really is because he was eating some hard shots from Justin. For this matchup Tony is facing someone who is better at jiu jitsu than himself. Charles started as a Jiu Jitsu specialist but really improved in his striking as we saw he beat up Kevin Lee. His kickboxing vastly improved as he beat Kevin Lee at his own game. Charles does present a huge challenge for Tony but when watching the tape, Charles struggles when the fight gets hard. For example the Paul Felder fight, he was winning til Felder started to bring the pace. Its one of the hardest fights to predict as we saw Tony got rocked in multiple fights in the past like in the Lando Vannata fight, and even the Pettis fight. I edge Tony slightly I feel his elbows will play a big difference but his age is a huge factor. If Charles wins it will really shake up this division.
Wilson's pick: Ferguson by DEC
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno: Man has Deiveson really reinvented this flyweight division. A division that was once on the fridge of being scraped now looks like one of the more exciting weight classes. You can thank Dues Da Guerra for bringing that spark. After running through Joey B twice the way he did, we all had a feeling this man will be champ for awhile. Three weeks ago we saw him make Perez look like he had no business being in the octagon with him. Now he is back against Moreno, a guy whose title shot has been brewing for years now. I think Brandon is an all round good fighter but he will get wild and wing his shots as he saw in his last fight. This is a huge red flag as Figueiredo is a great counter puncher. Moreno has the wrestling in his back pocket as he showcased it in the Askar Askarov fight. He has to use this if he wants to see gold. But for Deiveson he reminds me of the Franics Ngannou of the flyweights, his power is unmatched from everyone else. Moreno is a tough puzzle to solve as he does bring high volume with his strikes but it only takes one punch from Figueiredo. When Deiveson's reign is over, I believe he will go down as the best flyweight of all time.
Wilson's pick: Figueiredo Round 3 KO