UFC Predictions: UFC Vegas 33: Uriah Hall vs. Sean Strickland 

#2. UFC Vegas 33: The Main Card

UFC veteran Sam Alvey is in action on the main card this weekend

In the UFC strawweight division, Cheyanne Buys takes on Gloria de Paula. Both of these fighters have similar records – 5-3 and 5-2 – and are looking for their first win in the UFC, so quite how this has made the main card is a mystery.

Neither woman has shown all that much thus far in their UFC careers, but Buys appears to have a slightly higher athletic ceiling, so the pick is Buys via decision.

In the bantamweight division, Kyung Ho Kang takes on veteran Rani Yahya. This should be an interesting fight as Kang is aggressive to a fault and has an excellent UFC record – 6-2-1 – with a current three-fight win streak.

By all rights, Yahya should be slowing down now. He’s 36 and has been around for years, debuting professionally back in 2002. However, he won his last fight impressively, and is still one of the more dangerous grapplers in the division.

Kang should be able to win this fight by using his hyperactive style to wear Yahya out, but if he makes one error, he may well fall into a submission. However, ‘Mr Perfect’ via decision is the pick.

In a middleweight bout, Sam Alvey faces Roman Kopylov. This might be the last chance saloon for Alvey, as he hasn’t won a fight since 2018 and has gone 0-5-1 in the years that have followed. Worryingly, ‘Smilin Sam’ seems to have been exposed as a one-trick pony, and if opponents can avoid his counter right hook, they’re usually okay.

Kopylov, meanwhile, came into the UFC with a reputation as a heavy hitter, but his rep took a dent when he was submitted by kickboxer Karl Roberson in his octagon debut. This seems to be a more winnable fight for him, as long as he can avoid that right hook. Kopylov via TKO is the pick.

Finally, Bryan Barberena takes on Jason Witt in a welterweight bout. Witt was whitewashed in his short-notice UFC debut, but did pick up a win over Cole Williams last year before falling to a TKO earlier in 2021.

Barberena meanwhile has been around a long time, and he’s essentially a welterweight Darren Elkins – a hard-nosed, durable wrestler who’s capable of grinding out wins, but tends to lose to more explosive opponents.

Basically then, is Witt as good as Vicente Luque, Leon Edwards or even Randy Brown? Probably not, so the pick is Barberena via decision.

---

#1. UFC Vegas 33: Preliminary bouts

Picks in bold

UFC welterweight division: Mounir Lazzez vs. Niklas Stolze

UFC bantamweight division: Wu Yanan vs. Nicco Montano

UFC featherweight division: Melsik Baghdasaryan vs. Colin Anglin

UFC lightweight division: Chris Gruetzemacher vs. Rafa Garcia

UFC featherweight division: Danny Chavez vs. Kai Kamaka III

UFC strawweight division: Jinh Yu Frey vs. Ashley Yoder

UFC bantamweight division: Ronnie Lawrence vs. Trevin Jones

UFC welterweight division: Philip Rowe vs. Orion Cosce

UFC flyweight division: Zarrukh Adashev vs. Ryan Benoit