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#2 Daniel Cormier vs. Volkan Oezdemir
Daniel Cormier suffered a brutal TKO loss to arch rival Jon Jones in his last Octagon outing, however, as it’d eventually be revealed, Jones was allegedly on steroids for his fight with DC.
Following Jones’ steroid test failure, the UFC reinstated the Light-Heavyweight title on DC, and he now faces yet another stiff challenge in one-punch KO machine Volkan ‘No Time’ Oezdemir. This fight could very well turn out to be like Cormier’s pair of wins against another KO puncher and Oezdemir’s former training partner—the now-retired Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson.
Nevertheless, if DC fails to hold Oezdemir down and wear him out, standing up with the latter wouldn’t be advisable. Oezdemir’s composure is his biggest strength, and that coupled with the precision in his punches spells doom for the much shorter and slower DC. Look for Oezdemir to finish this fight in Round 1 with a barrage of well-placed punches.
Prediction: Volkan Oezdemir def. Daniel Cormier via TKO
#3 Calvin Kattar vs. Shane Burgos
Calvin Kattar is a decent scrapper who seems to have been working on his standup game over the past few months.
On the other hand, Shane Burgos is a well-rounded fighter who lacks the ability to pull the trigger when the situation demands. Expect this to be a slow-paced fight, with neither man committing to any of the strikes.
With Kattar slightly better in the ground scrambles, the judges are likely to score this bout in his favor after 3 rounds.
Prediction: Calvin Kattar def. Shane Burgos via Decision
#4 Gian Villante vs. Francimar Barroso
Gian Villante seems to have gotten a bad reputation for letting fights slip through his grasp during the latter stages.
Villante often loses focus, and makes critical strategic errors time and again inside the Octagon. Now, while Barroso isn’t the most dangerous fighter in the world, Villante has to be cautious while wading into punching range against his foe.
Expect a ton of action early on in this matchup, with Villante tagging Barroso at will and maintaining his momentum. Should Villante stick to the game-plan and not get overzealous in search of the knockout, he’s got this fight in the pocket.
Prediction: Gian Villante def. Francimar Barroso via Decision
#5 Thomas Almeida vs. Rob Font
Thomas Almeida seems to have lost his zest after being knocked out by former UFC Bantamweight Champion Cody Garbrandt.
Nevertheless, Almeida is still young, and possesses excellent Muay Thai to go with his decent grappling skills. Expect Almeida to start out cautious, pawing out jabs and teeps to Rob Font.
While Almeida could very well finish this fight if he pushes the pace, he has to shake off his gun-shy approach to fighting which he seems to have developed after the aforementioned loss to Garbrandt. Nevertheless, against Font, expect Almeida to comfortably win across the scorecards.
Prediction: Thomas Almeida def. Rob Font via Decision
