Zane Simon & Connor Ruebusch are back to break down this week’s UFC event at the Apex facility in Las Vegas, NV. With picks and odds for every fight on the card. From Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac in the main event down to Natalia Silva vs. Tereza Bleda in the opening prelim.
We’re now one week removed from UFC 281, which means we’ve got a pretty severe downgrade in fight card quality to look forward to. In the main event, Serghei Spivac hopes to insert his name into the stack of rising heavyweight contenders with a victory over Derrick Lewis. The card drops sharply in notoriety from there.
For fans interested in diving deeper into the undercard, check out the Prelims Vivi below.
The MMA Vivisection is brought to you by ‘The Fine Art of Violence’, a collection of art and essays recapping the year in MMA by Chris Rini, featuring the most talented artists and writers in Mixed Martial Arts. The book is available in both hard copy and digital formats at chrisrini.com.
Here’s a look at the UFC Vegas 65 fight card as it stood at the time of recording:
ESPN+ MAIN CARD | 4pm/1pm ET&PT
Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac — Picks, Both: Lewis
Ion Cutelaba vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu — Picks, Both: Nzechukwu
Chase Sherman vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta — Picks, Zane: Cortes-Acosta, Connor: Sherman
Andre Fialho vs. Muslim Salikhov — Picks, Both: Salikhov
Jack Della Maddalena vs. Danny Roberts — Picks, Both: Della Maddalena
ESPN+ PRELIMS | 1pm/10am ET&PT
Charles Johnson vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov — Picks, Both: Zhumagulov
Jennifer Maia vs. Maryna Moroz — Picks, Both: Moroz
Vince Morales vs. Miles Johns — Picks, Both: Johns
Kevin Natividad vs. Ricky Turcios — Picks, Both: Natividad
Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Maria Oliveira — Picks, Zane: Oliveira, Connor: Demopolous
Brad Hiestand vs. Fernie Garcia — Picks, Both: Hiestand
Natalia Silva vs. Tereza Bledá — Picks, Zane: Bledá, Connor: Silva
For those of you following the picks made on the show, we started tracking them with the July 13th, 2020 Vivisection shows for UFC Fight Island 1: ‘Kattar vs. Ige’. So far, here are the overall standings:
- For our last event, UFC 281: ‘Adesanya vs. Pereiera’: Zane & Connor picked 100% the same for the first time, they went 7/14 for an even 50%
- Overall from UFC Fight Island 1 in 2020, through UFC 281, this year: Zane is now at 770/1194 for 64.49% and Connor is now at 724/1194 for 60.64%
- So far, in 2022: Zane is at 300/457 for 65.65% and Connor is at 282/457 for 61.71%
- 2021: Zane went 305/493 for 62% and Connor went 285/493 for 58%
- July-Dec 2020: Zane went 164/244 for 67% and Connor went 157/244 for 64%
- Reference: Vivi Picks Stats_11.17.22.pdf
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