UFC Predictions: UFC Fight Night: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.

The UFC is set to head to Baku, Azerbaijan, for the first time next weekend for a Fight Night event. Overall, it isn't a bad card for a non-pay-per-view event.

UFC Fight Night: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. features a light-heavyweight shootout in the headliner, and several other fun-sounding fights up and down the card.

With plenty of fighters hailing from the Caucasus region on the card, the crowd should hopefully get into this event nicely.

Here are the predicted outcomes for UFC Fight Night: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.

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#1. UFC light-heavyweight bout: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr

Next weekend's headliner will see the fans in Baku treated to a shootout between two of the light-heavyweight division's most highly rated strikers.

Both Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree Jr have made a name for themselves by slicing up their foes on the feet, so which man will come out on top in Azerbaijan?

Of the two, it's probably fair to say that Hill needs the win a little more. 'Sweet Dreams' rose to the top of the division in early 2023 in unexpected fashion, picking apart Glover Teixeira to claim the vacant UFC light-heavyweight title.

However, he then suffered a terrible injury, rupturing his Achilles tendon during a basketball game, and that resulted in him having to give up his title.

Since then, Hill has not won a fight, suffering a brutal knockout at the hands of Alex Pereira in a failed attempt to reclaim the title, and then being stopped by Jiri Prochazka, too.

Rountree Jr., meanwhile, has not fought since he was stopped by Pereira last October. Before that, 'The War Horse' had won five in a row, using his brutally powerful Muay Thai game to get past his foes, usually violently.

Given that both men have shown deficiencies on the ground, it's highly likely that neither will be shooting for a takedown here. Instead, they're much more likely to stand and exchange. So, who will come away with the win?

Hill has a pretty obvious route to victory; at 6ft 4in, he's a tall, lanky 205-pounder with a huge 79in reach. Like Jon Jones, he'll look to reach out and touch his foes with his jab and low kicks, looking to keep them at the end of his strikes before landing his more damaging left hand.

Given that Rountree Jr can look flat-footed and plodding at times, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that this approach might work well for 'Sweet Dreams' here, as it did against Teixeira.

There's a problem with that, though, and that's that since his injury, Hill's movement hasn't been quite the same. He was slower and easier to hit against Prochazka, and that could be a real issue here.

To add to this, 'Sweet Dreams' hasn't beaten a top striker in their prime, as his wins over Teixeira and Thiago Santos came when both men were in their twilight.

It's arguable that, outside of Pereira, Rountree Jr. is the hardest hitter in this division, and if he can find his range and land his chopping leg kicks or sweeping hooks, any fighter is in trouble.

Therefore, if he can catch Hill as Prochazka did, then this fight is likely to be over.

Overall, then, given the history of his serious injury, it's just hard to trust Hill in this fight. With that in mind, the pick is Rountree Jr.

The Pick: Rountree Jr. via third-round TKO

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#2. UFC lightweight bout: Rafael Fiziev vs. Ignacio Bahamondes

This event's co-headliner features two exciting lightweight talents, with one looking to make a step up the ladder at the expense of another.

Of the two, it's safe to say that Rafael Fiziev has more to lose. The native of Kazakhstan had a quick rise up the ladder, dispatching the likes of Renato Moicano and Rafael dos Anjos in a six-fight stretch over two years.

Since then, though, 'Ataman' has had it tough. A loss to Justin Gaethje in a thriller was nothing to be ashamed of, but Fiziev then suffered a serious knee injury in his clash with Mateusz Gamrot.

That left him on the shelf for well over a year, and when he returned, it was in an ill-advised short-notice rematch with Gaethje that he lost again.

Back in the days when the Fertitta brothers headed up the UFC, that kind of loss, as well as his current three-fight losing streak, wouldn't be a problem. Under the more ruthless TKO ownership, though, a loss here could see him out in the cold.

So can Ignacio Bahamondes put Fiziev's career in danger?

A flashy striker hailing from Chile, 'La Jaula' is 6-2 in the octagon, and is currently on a three-fight win streak. While fans will fondly remember his wild knockouts of Roosevelt Roberts and Manuel Torres, it was arguably his submission of the dangerous Jalin Turner earlier this year that marked him as a man to watch.

Will this fight be likely to hit the ground, though? It almost feels doubtful. Both Fiziev and Bahamondes prefer to stand and exchange, and both have a penchant for the unorthodox, too. After all, it's rare that two fighters who've won fights with spinning kicks face off outside of a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.

The big question is how Fiziev will deal with the longer reach of Bahamondes. 'La Jaula' is very tall for a lightweight, standing at 6ft 3in, and he'll enjoy at least a four-inch reach advantage over his foe.

What should give Fiziev a mental boost is the fact that he started so well against Gaethje before gassing out, which was understandable given the notice he took the fight on.

If he can start that quickly here, then he could have some success, particularly when you consider how Ludovit Klein got inside the reach of Bahamondes to win their bout.

It's impossible to count 'La Jaula' out, particularly because if he can find a rhythm early, he could well keep Fiziev on the end of his shots and hurt him, particularly with kicks.

However, it's also difficult to shake the idea that 'Ataman' has so much more experience, particularly at the highest level, and almost certainly needs the win a lot more than the Chilean.

This one should be fun to watch, but expect Fiziev to just about edge it.

The Pick: Fiziev via decision

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#3. UFC Fight Night: The Main Card

In a lightweight bout, Tofiq Musayev faces Myktybek Orolbai. A former champion in RIZIN, Musayev is a native Azerbaijani, meaning the fans should be well behind him here.

Is he any good, though? His record shows he does have some talent. Musayev is 22-5 and holds wins over some solid fighters, including Johnny Case and Patricky Pitbull.

However, Kyrgyzstan's Orolbai is a powerful grappler who's already shown he can spoil fights for flashier opponents, as he dispatched Uros Medic and Elvis Brener in his first two UFC bouts.

This one is tricky to call as Orolbai is more octagon proven, but Musayev does have plenty of experience and will be fighting at home. That advantage could prove to be pivotal, so the pick is Musayev via decision.

In a heavyweight clash, highly ranked Curtis Blaydes returns to face off with Rizvan Kuniev. At this stage, we all know what Blaydes brings to the table. 'Razor' is a huge, powerful wrestler with ruthless ground-and-pound and big punching ability.

However, he's also chinny and does tend to eat big shots at times, costing him fights against the likes of Francis Ngannou and Tom Aspinall.

Kuniev is a bit of a wild card, but he does have some solid wins to his name. However, there are a few red flags here. Firstly, he's only fought sporadically over the years, 14 times since 2011, and he's certainly never faced a wrestler as large and powerful as Blaydes before.

Unless Blaydes has suddenly aged overnight, then, this should be a good fight for him, particularly if he can get his ground-and-pound going. The pick is Blaydes via TKO.

At lightweight, Nazim Sadykhov takes on Nikolas Motta. Another native of Azerbaijan, Sadykhov, has looked excellent in his octagon career thus far.

He's unbeaten, going 3-0-1 with the only black mark being his draw with Viacheslav Borshchev, and even that was a wild fight. Coached by the famed Serra/Longo camp, he does appear to have a lot of talent.

Motta will probably be his toughest test to date, but he's also a bit chintzy and has tended to lose to his stronger opponents. Based on what we've seen from Sadykhov to date, this should be a win for 'The Black Wolf'. The pick is Sadykhov via TKO.

Finally, in a featherweight clash, Muhammad Naimov faces Bogdan Grad. Widely recognised as a skilled striker, Naimov is 4-1 in the octagon and has performed excellently in fights with Nathaniel Wood and Jamie Mullarkey.

Most recently, Naimov showed some much-improved grappling to defeat Kaan Ofli. Grad, though, is a fellow striker, meaning this fight should provide some real fireworks to open the main card.

Who will win? It's hard to say as Grad has only made one UFC appearance, and that was against an overmatched foe in Lucas Alexander.

The pick, therefore, is Naimov via decision, but this one could go either way.

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#4. UFC Fight Night: The Prelims

Picks in bold

UFC flyweight bout: Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Azat Maksum

UFC middleweight bout: Ismail Naurdiev vs. Jun Yong Park

UFC bantamweight bout: Melissa Mullins vs. Daria Zhelezynakova

UFC heavyweight bout: Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Mohammed Usman

UFC welterweight bout: Seok Hyun Ko vs. Oban Elliott

UFC bantamweight bout: Irina Alekseeva vs. Klaudia Sygula