UFC Fight Night 169: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo - Predictions and Picks

#3 Ion Cutelaba vs. Magomed Ankalaev

Magomed Ankalaev could enter title contention with a big win this weekend

This is easily the second-best fight on the card behind the main event; a clash of two of the best prospects out there at 205lbs that should see the winner vaulted into title contention in what remains a thin division. Given the intensity that both men bring, there likely won’t be a crazier staredown in 2020, either.

Cutelaba has more UFC experience than his Dagestani opponent; ‘The Hulk’ debuted back in 2016 with a loss to Misha Cirkunov, and since then his career has largely followed a pattern – he destroys his less athletic foes with brutal power strikes, but faced with someone a little more technical – Cirkunov, Jared Cannonier and Glover Teixeira – he tends to start quickly but fade, allowing his opponent to take over.

Overall though, the Moldovan fighter has some fantastic skills; he’s a big 205lber, carries insane power in his strikes, and his takedowns are pretty strong as well, even if he prefers to throw bombs at his opponent. The question then is whether Ankalaev fits into the category with Teixeira, Cirkunov et al, or whether he’s more Henrique Da Silva or Jonathan Wilson.

Judging by what we’ve seen from him in the Octagon, I’d be tempted to say he’s as good as those higher-level fighters. He lost his UFC debut to Paul Craig in simply ludicrous fashion – he was beating the Scotsman from pillar to post before somehow falling into a last-gasp triangle choke – but since then he’s been perfect, knocking out Marcin Prachnio and Dalcha Lungiambula and outgrappling Klidson Abreu for a decision.

It’s that win over Lungiambula that makes me lean towards Ankalaev in this fight. Like Cutelaba, Lungiambula was a highly explosive, incredibly athletic striker with a tendency to slow down – but against Ankalaev, that hardly mattered. The Dagestani simply took him down and smashed him to pieces over the course of two rounds before finishing him in the third.

Is Cutelaba a better wrestler than Lungiambula? Most likely, but I’m still not convinced he’d be capable of outgrappling Ankalaev, who looks like one of the best wrestlers in the 205lbs division and trains with the Akmat Fight Club, a team responsible for grappling monsters like Frodo Khasbulaev and Magomed Bibulatov.

This could be a tricky one for Ankalaev as he’ll definitely need to watch out for Cutelaba’s power, but I also think it’ll be an eye-opener for everyone to see how good the Dagestani is. I see him as a title contender in 2/3 fights, and this will be his first step closer to that status.

The Pick: Ankalaev via unanimous decision