UFC Predictions: UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar predictions and picks

#3 The Main Card: UFC on ABC card

Viral star Joaquin Buckley returns to UFC action this weekend against Alessio Di Chirico.

The rest of Saturday’s main card features three more fights, with two in the UFC Welterweight division and the other one in the UFC Middleweight division.

In the Welterweight division, Santiago Ponzinibbio returns to face off with Li Jingliang. Argentina’s Ponzinibbio was looking like a UFC title contender when he last fought, knocking out Neil Magny. ut that was over two years ago. Injuries have kept him out since, so can he return with a bang?

It won’t be easy. Li is a huge 170lber who has nine UFC wins to his name. He’s capable of grounding and wearing an opponent down – hence the Leech nickname – but his striking has also improved tremendously over the years.

Ponzinibbio, however, is a truly deadly striker with insane killer instinct. A lack of really explosive athleticism has held him back in the UFC at times, but he can hurt his opponents from practically anywhere. He’s incredibly durable, and if he gets an opponent hurt, they’re usually done.

Li will likely get some early success here just because of Gente Boa suffering from cage rust. But overall, I feel like Ponzinibbio is the better fighter, and I think he’ll claim his first UFC win for two years here, probably by third-round knockout.

Also, at Welterweight, Joaquin Buckley takes on Alessio Di Chirico. After going viral with his spinning kick knockout in 2020 and following that with his second UFC win, this is a big step up for Buckley. Di Chirico isn’t a UFC title contender by any means, and in fact, he’s on a three-fight slide. However, he has far more experience at this level than Buckley, and he’s never been knocked out before.

Despite that, I’m going with Buckley here. Di Chirico is a decent jack-of-all-trades, but I don’t think he’s as good an athlete as New Mansa, and all the momentum is with Buckley too. Given his hard-hitting style – nine wins by KO and two of them in the UFC – I’m going to take Buckley to turn the Italian’s lights out in the second round.

Finally, in the UFC Middleweight division, Punahele Soriano faces Dusko Todorovic in a clash of unbeaten prospects. This is a really tricky fight to call as both men have looked excellent in their careers to date and picked up UFC debut wins by KO in 2020.

It’s a tricky one to pick as both men have yet to lose and clearly carry a lot of power in their strikes, but I’m slightly favoring Todorovic. Not only does he seem less wild than Soriano when he’s attacking – with more head movement and measured punches – but he seems slightly more well-rounded, and he’s proven against better opponents, too.

Prior to arriving in the UFC, for instance, he defeated Michel Pereira.

With this all considered, the pick is Todorovic via second-round KO.

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The Prelims: UFC on ESPN+ card picks

Picks in bold

UFC Middleweight division: Phil Hawes vs. Nassourdine Imavov

UFC Bantamweight division: Wu Yanan vs. Joselyne Edwards

UFC Middleweight division: Omari Akhmedov vs. Tom Breese

UFC Heavyweight division: Carlos Felipe vs. Justin Tafa

UFC Welterweight division: David Zawada vs. Ramazan Emeev

UFC Bantamweight division: Sarah Moras vs. Vanessa Melo

UFC Featherweight division: Jacob Kilburn vs. Austin Lingo