Author: Craig Amos

UFC Fight Night 88 Predictions: Main Card Staff Picks

UFC Fight Night 88 is scheduled for Sunday, May 29. 
The event is headlined by a battle between top bantamweight prospects, Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt. Both youngsters, 24-years-old, have bright futures ahead, but the intriguing main event …

UFC Fight Night 88 is scheduled for Sunday, May 29. 

The event is headlined by a battle between top bantamweight prospects, Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt. Both youngsters, 24-years-old, have bright futures ahead, but the intriguing main event will catapult only one into the immediate title scene.

Former bantamweight champion Renan Barao moves up a weight class in the show’s co-main event. He’ll face off with the hard-hitting 145-pounder, Jeremy Stephens, who is looking for just his second win over the past five fights.

The full Fight Night 88 main card looks like this:

  • Thomas Almeida vs. Cody Garbrandt
  • Renan Barao vs. Jeremy Stephens
  • Tarec Saffiedine vs. Rick Story
  • Chris Camozzi vs. Vitor Miranda
  • Jorge Masvidal vs. Lorenz Larkin
  • Joshua Burkman vs. Paul Felder

As is our custom here at Belacher Report, we’ve assembled the picks team to provide you with five sets of prognostications.

We’ve got Scott “Hot Pepper” Harris, Sydnie “Soda Pop” Jones, Nathan “New Potato” McCarter, Steven “Relish” Rondina and Craig “Cotton Candy” Amos, all ready to tell you what we think.

Read on for the picks.  

 

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UFC 197: Live Results, Play-by-Play and Fight Card Highlights

UFC 198 is a go for Saturday, May 14. 
The event, hosted by the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, is headlined by a heavyweight title match between Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic. The champion, Werdum, has won six straight, most recently def…

UFC 198 is a go for Saturday, May 14. 

The event, hosted by the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, is headlined by a heavyweight title match between Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic. The champion, Werdum, has won six straight, most recently defeating Cain Velasquez. The challenger, Miocic, is coming off a knockout win over Andrei Arlovski.

The co-main event of the evening pits Brazilian middleweights Vitor Belfort and Ronaldo Souza against one another. Belfort enters on the heels of a knockout win over Dan Henderson, while Souza is looking to rebound from a razor-thin decision loss to Yoel Romero.

The full UFC 198 card is as follows:

 

UFC 198 Main Card (10 p.m. ET)

  • Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic
  • Ronaldo Souza vs. Vitor Belfort
  • Cris Justino vs. Leslie Smith
  • Mauricio Rua vs. Corey Anderson
  • Warlley Alves vs. Bryan Barberena

 

Prelims on Fox Sports 1 (8 p.m. ET)

  • Demian Maia vs. Matt Brown
  • Thiago Santos vs. Nate Marquardt
  • Francisco Trinaldo vs. Yancy Medeiros
  • John Lineker vs. Rob Font

 

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass (6:30 p.m. ET)

  • Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Patrick Cummins
  • Sergio Moraes vs. Luan Chagas 
  • Renato Moicano vs. Zubaira Tukhugov

Join us here when the action begins for Bleacher Report’s live play-by-play coverage of UFC 198.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 197: Live Results, Play-by-Play and Fight Card Highlights

UFC 197 is scheduled for Saturday, April 23. 
The event features the return of Jon Jones, who was stripped of his light heavyweight title back in January 2015. Originally, the former champ was set to challenge current titleholder Daniel Cormier, b…

UFC 197 is scheduled for Saturday, April 23. 

The event features the return of Jon Jones, who was stripped of his light heavyweight title back in January 2015. Originally, the former champ was set to challenge current titleholder Daniel Cormier, but an injury to Cormier paved the way for Ovince Saint Preux to step in and compete against Jones for the interim championship.

In the co-main event, Demetrious Johnson defends his flyweight strap against No. 1 contender Henry Cejudo. Johnson has defended his crown seven straight times, while Cejudo enters the bout with an unblemished professional record of 10-0.

The full UFC 197 fight card is as follows:

 

UFC 197 Main Card (10 p.m. ET)

  • Jon Jones vs. Ovince Saint Preux
  • Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo
  • Anthony Pettis vs. Edson Barboza 
  • Robert Whittaker vs. Rafael Natal
  • Yair Rodriguez vs. Andre Fili

 

Prelims on Fox Sports 1 (8 p.m. ET)

  • Sergio Pettis vs. Chris Kelades 
  • Danny Roberts vs. Dominique Steele 
  • Carla Esparza  vs. Juliana Lima
  • Glaico Franca vs. James Vick 

 

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass (6:30 p.m. ET)

  • Walt Harris vs. Cody East
  • Marcos Rogerio de Lima def. Clint Hester, submission (Round 1, 4:35)
  • Kevin Lee def. Efrain Escudero, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Join us here when the show begins for Bleacher Report’s live play-by-play coverage of UFC 197.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on Fox 19: Live Results, Play-by-Play and Fight Card Highlights

UFC on Fox 19 is set for Saturday.
The fight card is highlighted by a light heavyweight tussle between former champion Rashad Evans and former No. 1 contender Glover Teixeira. Evans is looking to rebound from a loss to Ryan Bader, while Teixeira enters…

UFC on Fox 19 is set for Saturday.

The fight card is highlighted by a light heavyweight tussle between former champion Rashad Evans and former No. 1 contender Glover Teixeira. Evans is looking to rebound from a loss to Ryan Bader, while Teixeira enters having won two in a row.

Tecia Torres and Rose Namajunas will square off in the evening’s co-main event. The strawweights previously matched up in 2013, with Torres winning via decision. Since that outing, Torres has won four straight, while Namajunas has established herself as one of the best young fighters in the division.

The full UFC on Fox 19 card looks like this:

 

UFC on Fox 19 Main Card (8 p.m. ET)

  • Rashad Evans vs. Glover Teixeira
  • Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres
  • Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Darrell Horcher
  • Cub Swanson vs. Hacran Dias

 

Prelims on Fox Sports 1 (6 p.m. ET)

  • Beneil Dariush vs. Michael Chiesa 
  • Bethe Correia vs. Raquel Pennington 
  • Court McGee vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
  • Randy Brown vs. Michael Graves 

 

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass (4:30 p.m. ET)

  • John Dodson vs. Manny Gamburyan
  • Oluwale Bamgbose vs. Cezar Ferreira
  • Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Omari Akhmedov

 

Join us here when the action begins for Bleacher Report’s live play-by-play coverage of UFC on Fox 19.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Fight Night 86: Live Results, Play-by-Play and Fight Card Highlights

UFC Fight Night 86 is scheduled for Sunday. The rare Sunday show marks the UFC’s first visit to Croatia.
Headlining the event is a heavyweight contest between former champion Junior Dos Santos and emerging challenger Ben Rothwell. Dos Santos is lo…

UFC Fight Night 86 is scheduled for Sunday. The rare Sunday show marks the UFC’s first visit to Croatia.

Headlining the event is a heavyweight contest between former champion Junior Dos Santos and emerging challenger Ben Rothwell. Dos Santos is looking to rebound from a stoppage loss to Alistair Overeem, while Rothwell enters the match riding a four-fight winning streak.

The co-main event, another heavyweight tilt, features Gabriel Gonzaga and Derrick Lewis. Gonzaga won for the first time in four tries last December, while Lewis has knocked his last two opponents out.

The full Fight Night 86 card is as follows:

 

UFC Fight Night 86 Main Card (2 p.m. ET)

  • Ben Rothwell vs. Junior Dos Santos
  • Derrick Lewis vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
  • Francis Ngannou vs. Curtis Blaydes
  • Timothy Johnson vs. Marcin Tybura
  • Igor Pokrajac vs. Jan Blachowicz
  • Maryna Moroz vs. Cristina Stanciu

 

Prelims on Fox Sports 1 (12 p.m. ET)

  • Nicolas Dalby vs. Zak Cummings
  • Ian Entwistle vs. Alejandro Perez
  • Mairbek Taisumov vs. Damir Hadzovic
  • Filip Pejic vs. Damian Stasiak

 

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass (10:30 a.m. ET)

  • Rob Whiteford vs. Lucas Martins 
  • Jared Cannonier vs. Cyril Asker 
  • Alessio Di Chirico vs. Bojan Velickovic

Join us here when the action begins for Bleacher Report’s live play-by-play coverage of the entire event.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Fight Night 86 Predictions: Main Card Staff Picks

UFC Fight Night 86 will air on Sunday, April 10. The event kicks off at 10:30 a.m. ET, making the main card (2 p.m. ET) a rare weekend matinee. Another rarity: The Octagon travels to Croatia for the first time in UFC history.
The event features a …

UFC Fight Night 86 will air on Sunday, April 10. The event kicks off at 10:30 a.m. ET, making the main card (2 p.m. ET) a rare weekend matinee. Another rarity: The Octagon travels to Croatia for the first time in UFC history.

The event features a standard pack of 13 fights, six of those going on the main card. The afternoon’s headliner is a heavyweight contest between former champion Junior dos Santos and rising challenger Ben Rothwell. That bout is just one of three heavyweight contests on the main card.

The full main card looks like this:

  • Ben Rothwell vs. Junior dos Santos
  • Derrick Lewis vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
  • Francis Ngannou vs. Curtis Blaydes
  • Timothy Johnson vs. Marcin Tybura
  • Igor Pokrajac vs. Jan Blachowicz
  • Maryna Moroz  vs. Cristina Stanciu

Though, imminent title implications are light, the Fight Night 86 main card features a bevy of young talent and competitive matchups to add a dash of excitement to your Sunday afternoon. 

In preparation of the event, the Bleacher Report MMA picks team is here to supply you with our thoughts on each main-card matchup. Back as usual, it’s Scott “Home Run” Harris, Slugging Sydnie Jones, Nathan “Sacrifice Bunt” McCarter, Steven “The Slider” Rondina and Craig “Crash” Amos.

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