No fights this week so I’ll just touch upon some upcoming title fights.
UFC 280 is on October 22 and features two title fights. Charles
Oliveira and Islam Makhachev will fight for the vacant UFC
Featherweight Championship. Oliveira is 33-8 with 1 No Contest and has
won 11 straight fights while Makhachev is 22-1 and has won 10 straight
fights. This should be an absolutely incredible fight. I would lean
more towards Oliveira winning but there’s no way I could bet against
Makhachev. Not for real money anyway. Both men are so skilled with
their grappling that I would also lean towards this going the distance
because it’s hard to imagine one of them being submitted. It’s
certainly possible but I think the most likely scenario is Oliveira
winning the fight with some 48-47 scores and maybe one 49-46.
The other title fight is UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling
defending against T.J. Dillashaw. Sterling is 21-3 with 7 straight
wins while Dillashaw is 17-4. I would expect this to also go the
distance, with Sterling winning close, but fights can be very
unpredictable so I’ll go with Sterling winning by submission in the
4th round.
A couple other fights of note are the 21-4-1 (with 7 straight wins)
Beneil Dariush fighting the 21-1 with 1 No Contest (4 straight wins)
Mateusz Gamrot and the 16-3 Petr Yan vs. 15-1 with 1 No Contest Sean
O’Malley. I would pick Dariush to win by TKO in the 3rd round and I
think Yan beats the hell out of O’Malley for 3 rounds to pick up the
decision win. However, fighting has upsets all the time, that’s the
appeal.
UFC 281 on November 12 also has two title fights. UFC Middleweight
Champion Israel Adesanya (23-1) defends against Alex Pereira (6-1, 6
straight wins). I fully expect this to be a fairly pedestrian fight
with perhaps some moments of excitement, as plenty of Striker vs.
Striker fights turn out to be. I think Adesanya wins a clear decision.
The other title fight is UFC Strawweight Champion Carla Esparza (19-6,
6 straight wins) defending against Zhang Weili (22-3). I got to think
Esparza makes this a largely uneventful fight and grinds Zhang down
but I’ll also pick Zhang to get the TKO stoppage late in the 4th round
to win the title.
The next week sees Bellator 288 with two title fights. Bellator Light
Heavyweight Champion Vadim Nemkov (15-2, 1 No Contest) rematches Corey
Anderson (16-5, 1 No Contest). Their first fight ended in a No Contest
after an Anderson headbutt opened a cut on Nemkov’s eyebrow. I think
Anderson wins by TKO in the 3rd round but Nemkov could win it with his
grappling. I still think Anderson wins the title, though.
The other title fight is Bellator Lightweight Champion Patricky
“Pitbull” Freire (24-10) vs. Usman Nurmagomedov (15-0). I’m picking
Nurmagomedov here, I think he wins by submission in the 2nd round.
Bellator 289 on December 9 is another card with two title fights.
Bellator Flyweight Champion Liz Carmouche (17-7, 4 straight wins)
defends against Juliana Velasquez (12-1). I think Carmouche wins by
Split Decision to have a little more controversy to things.
The other title fight is Interim Bellator Bantamweight Champion
Raufeon Stots (18-1, 10 straight wins) facing Danny Sabatello (13-1, 7
straight wins) in the semi-finals of the Bellator Bantamweight World
Grand Prix Tournament. I think this fight goes to decision, with Stots
pulling out the closely contested Split Decision.
That same night, the other Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix
semi-final fight takes place as Patchy Mix (16-1) fights Magomed
Magomedov (19-2). I’ll take Mix to win by decision in a close fight.
Other title fights will likely be added to events through the end of
the year but I believe that’s it for now. Hopefully these fights
deliver the goods. I’m sure at least some will.
My new fantasy book is now out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The Steep
Price of Revenge. It’s the second book in my epic fantasy Kingdom
of Zarias series and follows the adventures of the Summers siblings as
they seek revenge for the wrongs inflicted on them. This book also
introduces lots of other characters as the scope of the world
continues to expand. There’s lots of action, magic, and monsters in
the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop game in novel form. It’s
on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other places. If you’re
interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you would check it out
and support me. Also, here’s the link to my new Compendium book about
the Kingdom of Zarias series- KoZ Compendium Thank you
very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
Leave a Reply