UFC Fight Night 177: Waterson vs. Hill - Predictions and Picks

#6 The Prelims: UFC on ESPN+ card

Prospect Roosevelt Roberts could headline this weekend's prelims

As of the time of writing, the UFC has not produced a bout order for Saturday’s prelim card. In fact, not all of the fights are officially confirmed. However, it’s likely that the following will be shown on ESPN+.

A Lightweight clash between Roosevelt Roberts and Matt Frevola seems to be the most likely headliner for these prelims. Both men have shown excellent skills in their prior UFC fights. Roberts largely relies on his length and range to do damage, as he prefers to strike from the outside and hunt for chokes using his long arms in grappling exchanges.

Frevola meanwhile is more of a wildman with skills in all areas, and his fights in the UFC have generally been very entertaining. The issue that ‘The Steamrolla’ has had has been with striking defense. He’s extremely hittable – largely due to his aggression – and that’s what got him KO’d by Polo Reyes in his UFC debut.

This could go either way but I suspect Roberts probably has too much firepower and will be able to use his range to take Frevola out by TKO.

In another Lightweight bout, Frank Camacho takes on Brok Weaver. Given that both men are coming off losses, this could be a loser-leaves-UFC type fight. Weaver was last seen being submitted by Roosevelt Roberts, but also only won his UFC debut by DQ after he was knocked out by an illegal knee.

Camacho, meanwhile, is just 2-5 in the UFC, but has been kept around largely because he puts on wildly entertaining fights. He’s also a potent finisher with heavy punches, as we saw when he knocked out Nick Hein in 2019.

This one is a tough one to pick given both men have similar skills, are equally tough and have a decent level of experience. However, given Weaver’s general lack of finishing skills, I’m leaning towards Camacho being able to put together enough meaningful offense to edge a decision.

The third Lightweight bout on the prelims sees Bobby Green face Alan Patrick. Both of these men are longtime UFC veterans, with Green actually having almost 40 fights to his name. ‘King’ has also been far more active, edging out both Lando Vannata and Clay Guida in 2020 while Patrick hasn’t fought in the UFC since 2018.

I’m taking Green in this one. ‘King’ not only has more experience, but he’s an excellent boxer and wrestler, while Patrick is a stiff striker who prefers to take his foes down. Given I can’t see him managing to grapple Green to the mat, I think we’ll probably see the StrikeForce veteran outbox his Brazilian foe for his third decision win of the year.

In a Bantamweight fight, Sijara Eubanks faces Julia Avila. Eubanks was actually supposed to fight on last week’s UFC card against Karol Rosa, only for the fight to fall apart when Rosa botched her weight cut. A highly skilled grappler, Eubanks might have her hands full here as Avila is a very powerful 135lber who looked impressive in her KO of Gina Mazany in June.

This fight will probably come down to which fighter can control where the fight takes place. If Avila can keep things standing then it should be her fight to lose, but if Eubanks can get her to the ground then she should have the advantage. I’m leaning towards ‘Sarj’ via decision based on the fact that she was already training while Avila has taken the fight on relatively late notice, but it’s tight to call.

At Flyweight, Matt Schnell takes on Tyson Nam. Schnell has been a real surprise hit in the UFC. A former MTV reality star, ‘Danger’ looked likely to wash out of the promotion when he was KO’d in his first two fights, but then reeled off a nice four-fight win streak. However, he was brutally knocked out in his last fight, back in December against high-level contender Alexandre Pantoja.

Nam on the other hand – a true veteran who fought all over the world before arriving in the UFC – recently picked up his first UFC win, a KO of Zarrukh Adashev, in June. For me this should come down to whether Schnell can outwork Nam as Kai Kara-France and Sergio Pettis did. If he can’t really do that then I feel like Nam has enough veteran savvy to land something big and put him away. I’m going with Nam by KO in a tight call.

In a Welterweight bout, Bryan Barberena faces Anthony Ivy. We haven’t seen Barberena since June 2019 when he was TKO’d by Randy Brown – a loss that kind of eliminated his aura of being almost too tough to stop – but he’s still a very difficult opponent for any 170lber.

Ivy is far less proven in the UFC. He came in as a late replacement and was KO’d in less than a minute by Christian Aguilera in his UFC debut. Could he be a talented and dangerous fighter? Perhaps, but I don’t think he’s ready for Barberena, even if ‘Bam Bam’ is coming off a long stretch on the shelf. I’ll take Barberena via decision here.

At Bantamweight, Tagir Ulanbekov faces Bruno Silva. This will be Ulanbekov’s UFC debut and he looks like a highly dangerous fighter. Yet another native of Dagestan, he’s 10-1 in MMA and appears to be a submission expert from what I’ve seen.

Silva meanwhile is a much smaller 135lber who could probably make 125lbs with ease, and I worry for him here against such an accomplished grappler. I’m going with Ulanbekov via submission.

Finally, a Flyweight fight sees Sabina Mazo take on Justine Kish. An accomplished kickboxer, Kish returned this January after a year-long layoff to pick up an impressive win over Lucie Pudilova. Mazo meanwhile has won her past two UFC outings, both by decision.

‘The Colombian Queen’ has less experience than Kish, but I think she’s got enough to edge out the veteran here, as she’s shown excellent skills in her UFC outings while Kish seems to be on the downturn. I’ll take Mazo via decision.