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The UFC returns to Las Vegas this weekend for its latest Fight Night event, and in the headliner, two of the world’s top middleweights face off.
UFC Fight Night: Marvin Vettori vs. Jared Cannonier isn’t a loaded show per say, but with 14 fights on tap, it should hopefully provide some entertainment.
Here, then, are the predicted outcomes for UFC Fight Night: Marvin Vettori vs. Jared Cannonier.
#1. UFC middleweight bout: Marvin Vettori vs. Jared Cannonier
With Israel Adesanya now back on top of the UFC’s middleweight division, the title hopes of both of these fighters have likely gone up in smoke again.
Both Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier are coming off wins; Vettori defeated Roman Dolidze in March, while Cannonier overcame Sean Strickland back in December.
Prior to that, though, both men lost to ‘The Last Stylebender’ in pretty dull fashion. Therefore, the likelihood of either earning a rematch even with an impressive showing here is relatively low.
However, you never know, particularly with injuries constantly ruining title fights in recent months, and so with ‘The Italian Dream’ ranked at No.3 and ‘The Killa Gorilla’ ranked at No.4, both will be desperate to win.
So who will pull this one off? Of the two, it’s probably fair to suggest that Cannonier is the harder hitter.
A former heavyweight, ‘The Killa Gorilla’ is a scary power puncher with a total of 10 knockouts or TKOs to his name. Some of his victims include Anderson Silva, Jack Hermansson and Derek Brunson.
What makes Cannonier so dangerous is the fact that he isn’t just a fighter who throws haymakers. He’s a strong technical striker who can throw enough volume to outwork an opponent, too. More importantly, he’s a powerful wrestler who is ruthless with ground-and-pound from the top.
Vettori, on the other hand, is perhaps a little more rounded. ‘The Italian Dream’ was largely seen as a grappler in his early days in the promotion, with nine of his 19 career wins coming via submission.
In more recent years, though, he’s worked his striking game heavily to the point where he was able to out-slug Paulo Costa in their 2021 clash.
More importantly, Vettori doesn’t have any clear-cut weaknesses. He’s willing to wear his foes down in the clinch, can dish out punishment from the top, and can outwork them standing too.
This fight, though, feels like a bad match for him. Sure, Vettori has defeated heavy hitters before, but none had the cardio, volume and overall skill of ‘The Killa Gorilla’. More to the point, it feels unlikely that the Italian will be able to grind Cannonier down in the clinch.
Overall, then, it feels unlikely that we’ll see a finish here. Vettori has never been stopped, even by Adesanya, while Cannonier’s only knockout losses came in heavier weight classes.
Therefore, it feels likely that it’ll come down to who can produce the bigger moments over five rounds, and with that considered, Cannonier seems the more likely.
The Pick: Cannonier via decision
#2. UFC lightweight bout: Arman Tsarukyan vs. Joaquim Silva
Without sounding too disrespectful, it’s puzzling as to why this fight has been put together by the UFC.
On one hand, Arman Tsarukyan is probably a dark horse contender for the lightweight title right now. He’s established a record of 6-2 in the octagon, with his only losses coming to current champ Islam Makhachev and the No.7-ranked Mateusz Gamrot. More importantly, both losses came via tight decision.
Tsarukyan is an incredible grappler capable of pushing a torrid pace. He even took Makhachev down at points and never found himself in true danger on the ground. However, the Armenian-Russian is an improving striker too, and has scored some nasty knockouts in recent fights.
Joaquim Silva, on the other hand, has a solid enough octagon record of 5-3. However, he’s won just one fight since 2019, defeating Jesse Ronson last year, and has only fought on four occasions outright since 2018!
The most likely explanation, then, is that Dana White and company have simply found it hard to find a decent opponent for Tsarukyan – an issue that once plagued Makhachev prior to his rise to fame a couple of years ago.
Can ‘Netto BJJ’ cause an upset here, then? It seems doubtful.
The Brazilian is an explosive fighter who definitely has finishing skills, but his defensive side is lacking badly in comparison. More importantly, it’s very doubtful that he’s going to be able to stop the takedowns of Tsarukyan.
Essentially, this should be the easiest fight to pick on this card. Silva might be able to surprise Tsarukyan with a rush of offense early on, but it’s very likely that he’ll succumb to a takedown and end up suffering a beating from there.
The safer pick might be Tsarukyan via decision, but due to Silva’s overall lack of durability and the Armenian’s wish to send a message, it feels like he could produce a nasty stoppage.
The Pick: Tsarukyan via first-round TKO
#3. UFC Fight Night: The Main Card
In a middleweight clash, Armen Petrosyan takes on Christian Leroy Duncan. This is a somewhat tricky bout to pick. Kickboxer Petrosyan has two wins in the octagon, but has yet to finish an opponent there.
The UK’s Duncan, meanwhile, is a consummate finisher, but his octagon debut ended prematurely and he hasn’t fought anyone quite on Petrosyan’s level yet. Really, this is a coin flip bout, but the unbeaten Duncan is the pick, probably by TKO.
In a featherweight bout, Pat Sabatini faces Lucas Almeida. This looks like an interesting one. Sabatini looked like a high-level prospect at one point, racking up four straight wins in the octagon before a TKO loss to Damon Jackson basically stopped his hype dead.
Almeida, meanwhile, has fought once in the UFC, defeating Michael Trizano impressively. He looks like the classic aggressive Brazilian finisher, but the big question is whether he can deal with Sabatini’s takedowns.
However, after seeing Sabatini fall in such disappointing fashion last time out, the pick is Almeida via KO.
In a lightweight clash, Manuel Torres takes on Nikolas Motta. This is another well-matched fight between two fighters with similar records. Torres is currently 1-0 in the octagon, while Motta is 1-1 with his lone loss coming to Jim Miller.
Overall, expect a pretty wild shootout in this one, as both men love to strike and trade blows. However, given Motta’s durability did not look too good against Miller, while Torres appears to hit hard, the pick is ‘El Loco’ via TKO.
Finally, Raoni Barcelos faces Miles Johns in a bantamweight tilt. Barcelos has not quite lived up to his early potential, losing three of his last four bouts, but he’s still a huge, explosive 135lber with finishing ability everywhere.
However, Johns is very tough, and judging by two of his octagon wins, he hits like a truck. This one could go either way, but based on Barcelos’ age and wear-and-tear, the pick is Johns via decision.
#4. UFC Fight Night: The Prelims
Picks in bold
UFC welterweight bout: Nicolas Dalby vs. Muslim Salikhov
UFC flyweight bout: Jimmy Flick vs. Alessandro Costa
UFC bantamweight bout: Kyung Ho Kang vs. Cristian Quinonez
UFC flyweight bout: Carlos Hernandez vs. Denys Bondar
UFC flyweight bout: Zhalgas Zhumagulov vs. Felipe Bunes
UFC flyweight bout: Tereza Bleda vs. Gabriella Fernandes
UFC bantamweight bout: Dan Argueta vs. Ronnie Lawrence
UFC light-heavyweight bout: Zac Pauga vs. Modestas Bukauskas
