UFC 232: Jones vs. Gustafsson 2: Predictions and Picks

#7 The Prelims: Fight Pass card

Brian Kelleher beat Renan Barao - can he overcome Montel Jackson?

Brian Kelleher headlines the Fight Pass portion of the card against Montel Jackson in a Bantamweight tilt. Kelleher’s last fight saw him knocked out violently by John Lineker, but he also took the fight to the Brazilian, which is ill-advised at the best of times. Prior to that ‘Boom’ took out Renan Barao, and I just can’t trust Jackson – who lost to Ricky Simon in his UFC debut – to beat someone on Kelleher’s level. Kelleher via KO is my pick.

In an interesting fight at Bantamweight, Andre Ewell takes on Nathaniel Wood. Both men looked excellent in their UFC debuts and both men have similar experience levels, meaning this one is tricky to pick, but I was impressed with the grit that Ewell showed to get past Renan Barao and so I’m taking him by decision.

At Middleweight, former top ten ranked Uriah Hall takes on unbeaten newcomer Bevon Lewis fresh from a win on Dana White’s Contender Series. Hall might not have lived up to his post-TUF hype but he’s still very dangerous – he went toe-to-toe with Paulo Costa before going down in the second round of their fight, and I’m not sure I’m comfortable in taking an inexperienced newcomer over him. I’ll take Hall by TKO instead.

Finally, Welterweight veteran Siyar Bahadurzada takes on hot prospect Curtis Millender in another intriguing fight. Millender has had a hot beginning to his UFC career, beating both Thiago Alves and Max Griffin this year, while Bahadurzada is actually on a 3-fight win streak although he’s only fought once each year since 2016. I’m favouring the prospect Millender here; he’s a better striker than Bahadurzada’s last two opponents and he also knows how to use his long range. He’ll have a 6” reach advantage on Bahadurzada and I think he’ll use it to pick the Afghan apart for a decision.