UFC 250: Nunes vs. Spencer - Predictions and Picks

#6 The Prelims: ESPN card

Hot prospect Chase Hooper headlines this weekend's prelims

This weekend’s show will see four prelims shown on ESPN, and at the top of that portion is a Featherweight bout between Alex Caceres – better known as Bruce Leeroy – and Chase Hooper. An exciting fighter, Caceres has never quite lived up to his potential, but he’s still an ultra-athletic, dangerous fighter with abilities in all areas.

Hooper meanwhile is 9-0 and at 20, is one of the youngest fighters on the UFC roster. That didn’t matter in his debut, as he smashed Daniel Teymur in the first round of their fight with a series of elbows.

Caceres should be a tougher out for him, but the truth is that at 31 and with a decade of fights in the UFC behind him, ‘Bruce Leeroy’ is probably past his best. He’ll provide a tricky test for Hooper, but the ultra-talented ‘Teenage Dream’ should have enough to get past the veteran. I’ll take him to win by decision.

At Middleweight, the ultra-tough Ian Heinisch faces off with dangerous veteran Gerald Meerschaert. Not the best athlete, Meerschaert has still done well in the UFC, going 7-3. He tends to start slowly, but uses his veteran wiles to lull his opponents into a false sense of security before dragging them into his kind of fight – a dogged one usually involving a lot of grappling. Heinisch will be a tricky fight for him as ‘The Hurricane’ tends to push a ludicrous pace from the off and is a tremendous wrestler, too.

Meerschaert is wily enough to finish Heinisch off given the chance, but I’m not sure he’ll be given that chance; the likelihood is that ‘The Hurricane’ will bum-rush him and hurt him early to the point that he never really recovers. ‘GM3’ is tough enough to go the distance, but I think Heinisch takes this via decision.

After knocking out Hunter Azure just a couple of weeks ago, Brian Kelleher returns at his natural 135lbs to face tricky grappler Cody Stamann. Kelleher is a fantastic fighter to watch, all-action and willing to throw everything he’s got at his opponent – but this fight looks horrendous for him in my opinion. A hard-nosed wrestler with finishing ability, Stamann specialises in dragging his opponents into deep water – and then drowning them.

Kelleher’s striking power might surprise ‘The Spartan’ , but eventually I suspect that wrestling advantage is going to tell, and Stamann will be able to overwhelm ‘Boom’ on the ground – picking up a submission win in the process.

Finally Middleweights Charles Byrd and Maki Pitolo face off. Byrd has been disappointing in his UFC career to date, losing his last two fights in one-sided fashion, and the truth is that the 36-year old grappler is perhaps too far past his athletic prime to succeed in the Octagon. Pitolo didn’t show a lot in his own UFC debut, but he’s explosive and hits hard, and I’m banking on that being enough to win him a TKO here.