UFC on ESPN: Barboza vs. Gaethje - Predictions and Picks

#6 Sheymon Moraes vs. Sodiq Yussuf

Brazilian striker Sheymon Moraes will have his hands full against Sodiq Yussuf

This one’s my sleeper pick for Fight of the Night should Barboza/Gaethje fail to impress (not likely, but still!) as both men have shown huge potential in their brief UFC showings, and will likely come to trade strikes until one guy goes down. Which one will that be? Well, it isn’t an easy fight to pick at all.

Moraes has more experience; a Brazilian kickboxing champion, he’s 11-2 in his MMA career with the only losses coming at the hands of Marlon Moraes and Zabit Magomedsharipov – hardly something to be ashamed of. Most recently, he defeated Julio Arce in a total bloodbath at UFC 230 – one of 2018’s most underrated fights in fact.

Yussuf on the other hand had a decent showing on the Contender Series, but then blew away everyone’s expectations by smashing Suman Mokhtarian in December, garnering some comparisons to the likes of Melvin Guillard and Tyron Woodley (when he decides to punch rather than wrestle) in the process.

The Nigerian is a tightly-coiled ball of muscle, springing into offense with scary speed and explosiveness before settling back and resetting.

It’s that tendency to fight in bursts that has me a little worried here; Moraes, assuming he doesn’t get his lights turned out early, will put a hell of a lot of pressure on Yussuf, far more than Mokhtarian would ever have been capable of doing.

If Yussuf ends up being forced onto his back foot, how will he react? Especially when you consider that Moraes appears to be the more technical striker?

I’m slightly favouring Moraes here, as I think he can put enough pressure on Yussuf to take him out of his usual rhythm. Yussuf appears to have the sheer power to take out anyone in the Featherweight division, and so you can’t count him out here – he could easily catch Moraes with something horrible and get rid of him quickly – but Moraes is super-tough, as evidenced by his fight with Arce, and I think he’ll have a little too much for the less experienced Yussuf.

The Pick: Moraes via unanimous decision