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The UFC is all set to return to Las Vegas and the UFC APEX facility this weekend, and on Halloween night, we’ve got a major showdown in the Middleweight division.
Legendary former UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva faces off with Uriah Hall in the main event of UFC Vegas 12. At the same time, Featherweights Andre Fili and Bryce Mitchell do battle in the semi-main event.
Here are the predicted outcomes for UFC Vegas 12: Hall vs. Silva.
Also, listen to the Cage Theory podcast for more on the recently concluded UFC 254 and for a look ahead to the UFC Vegas 12: Hall vs Silva card!
#1 UFC Middleweight Division: Uriah Hall vs. Anderson Silva
Rewind seven years, and this would’ve been an absolute dream match. Back then, of course, Silva was the reigning UFC Middleweight champion and had held the title since October 2006. He’d made a then-record 10 successful title defenses, had put together a record of 16-0 in the UFC, and looked generally unstoppable.
Hall, meanwhile, began 2013 as a cast member on the 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter. After taking out Adam Cella with a hook kick in one of the scariest knockouts in UFC history, Prime Time quickly developed the kind of reputation usually reserved for fighters like Silva himself. Two more wins put him into the finals, where it seemed he’d win comfortably.
However, the wheels came off for both men not long after. Hall was defeated by Kelvin Gastelum in the finals, and then lost a dull decision to John Howard in his second UFC outing. Meanwhile, Chris Weidman knocked out Silva, ending his title reign and shattering his mystique for good.
Today, things are very different for both men. Silva is now 45 years old and hasn’t won a fight since February 2017, where he was handed a lucky decision victory over Derek Brunson. Take that away, and you’ve got to go back to his pre-Weidman days to find a clean win for him. He’s already stated that win or lose, this will be his final fight.
Hall, meanwhile, has never quite lived up to the hype he garnered in 2013, but he’s done okay for himself. Prime Time is now 8-7 in the UFC, and the majority of his losses have come against top fighters like Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa. And every now and then, he’s shown flashes of brilliance – most notably his spinning kick knockout of Gegard Mousasi back in 2015.
Essentially, this should be an easily winnable fight for Hall. He’s no spring chicken himself at 36 years old, but he’s still largely in his athletic prime, and he’s still one of the tougher fighters in the UFC’s Middleweight division. On the other hand, Silva has basically lost everything that made him great, which at 45, is probably understandable.
During his legendary UFC title reign, The Spider was able to succeed for a few major reasons. Probably the biggest were the fact that he had the best reflexes we’d seen at that time in the sport. That made him capable of countering strikes and landing shots that other fighters simply weren’t able to do.
Those reflexes – coupled with a strong chin – also meant that he had little to fear from his opponents in return. However, largely since around 2016, Silva’s old reflexes appear to be gone. He still moves relatively quickly, but he can’t dodge strikes like he once did, and more to the point, he can no longer absorb damage in the same way he did in his prime.
Basically, then, every opponent he’s faced since the start of 2016 has been able to hurt him at some point, even if he’s only been finished by Weidman and, more recently, by a leg kick from Jared Cannonier.
Silva still uses his old style that sees him throw a ton of fakes and feints in order to draw an opponent in. But these days, it’s less to set up his own shots and more to throw a foe off their own gameplan hopefully.
Hall then certainly has the speed, power, and striking ability to take Silva out in this fight. He’s probably not as powerful as Cannonier, but he hits as hard as most of the top Middleweights in the UFC, and that should be enough for him to knock out the diminished former champ.
However, the thing that makes this fight a bit more interesting is Hall’s own tendency to fall into a heavy counter-based style. We’ve seen Prime Time throw a few fights away by simply not being aggressive enough, and if he comes out and shows Silva a little too much respect, we might end up with a fight that resembles the Brazilian’s 2019 clash with Israel Adesanya.
Hall isn’t quite as good as Adesanya, of course, and so that means that Silva might have a genuine chance of pulling a win out of the bag, albeit in a dull fight. Personally, though, I can’t see it happening.
Even the Cannonier fight took place well over a year ago, and Silva’s faced so many issues since then that it’s hard to imagine him rolling back the years. Sure, he’ll be desperate to go out with a win, but that may well open him up to making a mistake.
MMA is unfortunately one of those sports that doesn’t lend itself well to aging athletes pulling off big results, and we’ve seen countless UFC legends fall to younger, fresher fighters over the years. In his prime, Silva would likely have taken Hall out with no issues whatsoever.
In late 2020 though? This is no time for romance, and so I suspect Hall will knock Silva out in the opening round, putting a sad end to the career of one of the UFC’s all-time greats.
The Pick: Hall via first-round KO
#2 UFC Featherweight Division: Andre Fili vs. Bryce Mitchell
Right now, these two UFC Featherweights are unranked, but that could almost certainly change after this weekend – particularly if Mitchell picks up a win. Thug Nasty was once considered a joke fighter, purely because of a horrific accident in 2018 that saw him tear his scrotum with a power drill.
However, he’s proven at this stage that his skills in the Octagon are no laughing matter. 13-0 in MMA, Mitchell is now 4-0 in the UFC, and last December, he was able to pull off the UFC’s second ‘twister’ submission to tap out Matt Sayles. A ground specialist, the win was Mitchell’s ninth by submission and by far his most impressive to date.
Fili knows all about being a hot prospect in the UFC. Touchy debuted back in 2013 and took out Jeremy Larsen in violent fashion, garnering a ton of hype in the process. However, since then, he’s only been able to put together a record of 9-6 in the UFC, which isn’t bad but hasn’t ever allowed him to rise into title contention.
Essentially, Fili is an excellent offensive fighter in all areas. He’s capable of knocking his opponents out, but he’s not bad on the ground either and has scrambled with the best the division has to offer – including the likes of Dennis Bermudez and Hacran Dias.
In this fight, he’d clearly be better off looking to keep things standing. Mitchell is very untested on the feet, and we don’t know all that much about his chin, his striking power, nor his ability to avoid gassing out if he can’t get a foe down.
Fili, meanwhile, is an excellent kickboxer who’s slowly improved over the years. His win over Sheymon Moraes, for instance, was arguably the best of his UFC career. And he did well against the dangerous Sodiq Yussuf, too. He’ll also enjoy a 4” reach advantage over Mitchell – and so if he can keep him at the end of his strikes, he could come out on top.
However, I’m personally leaning towards Thug Nasty in this one. He doesn’t have an extensive wrestling background per se, but he’s always been able to get his opponents down thus far into his UFC career. And while Fili can scramble, his takedown defense has never been all that great, and his willingness to go wherever the fight takes him is worrying.
Given Touchy has already lost twice by tap-out in the UFC before – once to a free-flowing submission artist similar to Mitchell in the form of Godofredo Pepey – I just don’t like his chances if this one hits the mat. I figure it will do at some point, and that’s where Mitchell will get the tap-out win.
The Pick: Mitchell via second-round submission
#3 UFC Middleweight Division: Kevin Holland vs. Makhmud Muradov
After reeling off three wins in a row and going 6-2 in his UFC career overall, this is probably Holland’s big chance to really move up the ladder at Middleweight. Trailblazer has finished two of his last three fights, and with a win in a main card showcase fight, he’d probably be given a ranked opponent for his next outing.
However, this looks like an unbelievably tricky fight for him. Muradov is unheralded, but he’s already 2-0 in his UFC career, and overall, he looks like a genuinely terrifying prospect. A native of Uzbekistan, Mach is 24-6 overall, but you’ve got to go back to 2016 to find the last time he lost. And of those 24 wins, he’s finished a ridiculous 19 – 16 of them by KO.
An absolutely phenomenal athlete, Muradov is fast, powerful, and aggressive to a tilt. Judging from the footage on him, his gameplan always remains the same. He’ll wade forward with hard, accurate combinations, looking to blitz his opponents from the off. And if he can’t take them outstanding, he’s more than happy to dump them to the ground to punish them there.
As far as weaknesses go, only one really seems to stick out. In his UFC debut against Alessio Di Chirico, he seemed too happy to be sucked into a brawl in the last round. That’s always risky for any fighter, even a striker as good as Muradov, and sure enough, it allowed Di Chirico his only success of the fight.
Holland, meanwhile, is a solid fighter in all areas. He packs KO power on the feet, and he’s a capable grappler too, and obviously, he has far more UFC experience than Muradov. However, the issue for him is that judging on footage at least, he’s likely going to be outgunned here by a superior athlete who’s quicker and hits a lot harder.
I could be very wrong, and Muradov might gas out and fail against his trickiest opponent to date, but I’m convinced he’s the real deal. Holland will likely put up a very hard fight, but I suspect he’ll end up overwhelmed by the sheer aggression of Mach and will probably end up taking a beating en route to a decision loss.
The Pick: Muradov via unanimous decision
#4 UFC Heavyweight Division: Maurice Greene vs. Greg Hardy
Arguably the UFC’s most controversial fighter due to his somewhat chequered past, we haven’t seen Greg Hardy in action since UFC 249 – the first of the UFC’s post-COVID-19 shows. That show saw him defeat Yorgan De Castro, but it was hardly an inspiring performance.
Essentially, De Castro was picking The Prince of War apart until the end of the first round, when he broke his foot and seemingly stopped fighting. From there, Hardy was able to outstrike him, taking a tepid decision in what was the show’s lone dull fight.
However, despite his record still being pretty patchy – he’s 3-1 with one No Contest in the UFC – it’s fair to say that Hardy isn’t the worst fighter in the UFC’s Heavyweight division these days. In fact, there’s a lot to like about him in terms of his fighting ability.
One of the best athletes in the division, thanks to his NFL background, Hardy’s speed belies his massive size (6’5” and 260lbs). He can quickly chain combinations together on his feet, and while he doesn’t appear to have the one-shot KO power of someone like Derrick Lewis, he’s definitely capable of knocking opponents out.
And while he had a tendency to wear himself out early on in his first couple of UFC fights, he now appears to be in great shape. He’s gone three rounds in his past three fights, in fact, and wasn’t sucking wind in any of them – even his loss to Alexander Volkov.
The big question mark on The Prince of War surrounds his ground game, and it’s that area that Greene will probably look to test. A product of the 28th series of The Ultimate Fighter, The Crochet Boss is 4-2 in the UFC and has two slick submission wins to his name. Most recently, he tapped out Gian Villante with a pretty impressive arm-triangle choke.
At 6’7” and 255lbs, Greene will actually have some size on Hardy, and judging by his previous UFC fights, he’s not far off being as good an athlete as the former NFL man. However, I suspect that Hardy will still have a speed advantage when it comes down to it, particularly on the feet.
If Greene can get Hardy down, though, who knows? We haven’t really seen Hardy on the mat since his UFC debut, and he didn’t look too hot there in that fight with Allen Crowder. Will he have improved since? Well, probably, but he’s still not likely to be as good on the ground as the surprisingly skilled Greene.
However, given Hardy’s speed and athletic ability, it’s difficult to see a scenario in which Greene can take him down early on in the fight. And if that’s the case, then Hardy should be able to keep him at range, pick at him with his strikes and combinations, and probably wear him down for a decision.
It won’t be pretty and may well end up dull, but I’m going with The Prince of War to pick up his fourth official UFC victory in this one.
The Pick: Hardy via unanimous decision
#5 UFC Lightweight Division: Bobby Green vs. Thiago Moises
Old-school striker vs. grappler matches are pretty rare in the UFC these days, but this show is treating us to one. In this instance, Green will be looking to keep things on the feet, while Moises will almost definitely be desperate to get things to the ground.
Interestingly, the same could be said for Moises’ last outing in the UFC. That one saw him face fleet-footed striker Michael Johnson, and early on at least, things were looking bad for him. Moises appeared to be miles out of his depth standing and was being picked apart by The Menace, who seemed on his way to a victory.
However, that changed in the early moments of the second round. Moises decided to take a chance, dived on a leg, and quickly snared Johnson in an Achilles lock, forcing a tap-out moments later. It was highly impressive and a definite message to the rest of the UFC’s Lightweights to not write Moises off.
Green, though, promises to be an extremely tricky test for him. King is a real veteran now, with an MMA career that dates back all the way to 2008. In fact, longtime fans might remember Green fighting in the ill-fated Affliction promotion back in 2009.
In terms of his UFC career, he’s been in the promotion since 2013 and has put together a record of 8-5-1. However, that record is almost unfair to his talents. Only Dustin Poirier has been able to stop King, and all of his other losses could easily have gone the other way had Green made some adjustments.
That, though, is the problem with his style. Like a poor man’s Floyd Mayweather, Green has a boxing-heavy style that sees him duck, bob, and weave to avoid punches, using a shoulder-rolling technique not really common to MMA.
However, it also means that he doesn’t always chain his own offense together too well, instead focusing so much on dodging punches that the judges aren’t always convinced he’s done enough to win. When he does let his hands go, though, he’s a genuinely excellent fighter.
For this fight's purpose, it’s also worth noting that Green is a great defensive wrestler. He rarely finds himself grounded, and in fact, two of his last three wins have come over notable grapplers in Alan Patrick and Clay Guida.
With that in mind, the pick here is a pretty simple one, in my opinion. Green can be outpointed on the feet, but only by pretty sharp kickboxers like Francisco Trinaldo, Rashid Magomedov, and Edson Barboza. Against grapplers or lesser strikers, he’s always done really well.
When you consider how badly Moises appeared to be outgunned against Johnson in his most recent UFC fight then, it’s hard to imagine him giving Green any issues standing. That means that King should be able to keep his focus on takedown defense and simply hitting the Brazilian enough to outwork him for fifteen minutes.
I’d be surprised if Green can finish Moises – he hasn’t stopped an opponent in the UFC since November 2013. However, any result other than a decision win for King would outright shock me.
The Pick: Green via unanimous decision
#7 The Prelims: UFC on ESPN+ card
UFC Vegas 12 will see seven prelim fights broadcast on the ESPN+ streaming service. At the top of the prelim card sits a Lightweight clash between Chris Gruetzemacher and Alexander Hernandez. Hernandez is looking to bounce back from a brutal KO loss to Drew Dober, while Gruetzemacher hasn’t fought since a KO win over Joe Lauzon back in April 2018.
For me, this is an easy fight to pick. Gruetzemacher is almost purely a wrestler with some boxing, but he’s up against a superior athlete here who is probably a better wrestler too. Add in his layoff, and I think he’s in deep trouble. For me, Hernandez will be too fast for the veteran and will probably pick up his fourth UFC win by submission or TKO.
At Bantamweight, Adrian Yanez takes on late replacement Victor Rodriguez. A strong prospect who earned a shot in the UFC via Dana White’s Contender Series, Yanez is 11-3 in MMA and is an extremely quick striker who hits hard too. Rodriguez is also making his UFC debut, but despite sporting four straight KO wins, he doesn’t appear to share Yanez’s athletic talents and doesn’t look nearly as fast. I like Yanez to win this one, probably by KO.
At Middleweight, Sean Strickland faces Welsh striker Jack Marshman. This should be an intriguing one as Strickland is technically excellent but struggles to put things all together, while Marshman is more of a crude brawler but can be trusted to bring a fight to his opponent.
For me, this will go one of two ways. Either Marshman will catch Strickland in a rush and take him out early as Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos did, or he’ll find himself picked apart over the course of three rounds. The more likely outcome for me is Strickland outworking Marshman for a decision, picking up his eighth UFC win in the process.
In a Welterweight bout, Cole Williams faces Jason Witt. Both of these men made their UFC debuts on late notice and were quickly dispatched; Williams lost to Claudio Silva in 2019 while Witt was KO’d by Takashi Sato in June. This one could go either way, as in all honesty, neither fighter is probably UFC level. I like Witt by decision simply because he hasn’t had so much of a layoff.
At Light Heavyweight, Dustin Jacoby takes on Justin Ledet. People who remember Jacoby from his initial UFC run back in 2011 probably need to take another look as since then, he’s developed into a very excellent kickboxer who’s even had success in the GLORY promotion.
Meanwhile, Ledet got his UFC career off to a good start with three straight wins but has lost his last three, being outstruck in all of them. With that in mind, I suspect Jacoby will be able to pick his slightly slower foe apart on the feet, picking up his first-ever UFC win in the process, probably by KO.
In the Flyweight division, Cortney Casey faces Priscila Cachoeira. Cachoeira is actually coming off an excellent KO win over Shana Dobson – her first UFC victory – but prior to that, she hadn’t looked quite up to UFC standard.
Meanwhile, Casey has a pretty questionable UFC record – she’s 5-7 – but she’s actually a much better fighter than that suggests. Sure, her takedown defense is poor, but she hits hard, strikes well, and can grapple decently too. I suspect she’s a level above Cachoeira, and so I’ll take her to win a comfortable decision.
Finally, Miles Johns faces Kevin Natividad in a Bantamweight showdown. This should be a close fight, as both men are well-rounded fighters with skills in all areas and appear to look for the finish in their fights. Given this is Natividad’s UFC debut, and he’s never been tested at this level, I like Johns here, but to be honest, it could go either way.
