UFC on ESPN: Blaydes vs. Volkov - Predictions and Picks

#6 The Prelims: ESPN card

Veteran Clay Guida headlines this weekend's prelims against Bobby Green

According to the latest updates, all seven of Saturday’s prelim fights will be shown on ESPN. Topping the bill is a clash of Lightweight veterans, as Clay Guida faces off with Bobby Green. Given that he’s been in the UFC since 2007, it’s natural to question quite how much Guida has left in the tank, but ‘The Carpenter’ hasn’t fought in nearly a year which should refresh him.

The big question here is how Guida’s hyper-active style will clash with the minimalist tactics of Green, who seems to be able to lull any opponent into a strange point-fighting match, as evidenced with the amount of tight decisions to his name.

The x-factor here could be the fact that Green is very much a counter-fighter as well as being an underrated wrestler. If he can stop Guida’s takedown and land some strong counterpunches on him, then he can definitely win – it just depends on how highly the judges reward Guida’s likely more active style. Expect a split decision here – I’m going with Green.

At Strawweight, prospect Brianna Van Buren takes her biggest step up to date when she faces off with the far more experienced Tecia Torres. Van Buren’s striking looked excellent in her last fight – a win over Livinha Souza – but Torres is an equally excellent striker with some tremendous combinations, and she’s also a highly underrated grappler.

With more fights in the UFC alone than Van Buren’s had in her entire career, ‘The Tiny Tornado’ is likely a step too far for the prospect, and so I’ll take Torres to win a decision.

In a Middleweight clash, Canadian brawler Marc-Andre Barriault faces off with Oskar Piechota. Barriault is likely on his last life with the UFC; ‘Power-Bar’ has gone 0-3 thus far, and although he’s had his moments, a loss to Jun Yong Park doesn’t really bode well for his future.

To win this one he’ll need to rough Poland’s Piechota up as there’s no way he can compete with him from a technical standpoint. ‘Imadlo’ is one of Europe’s best grapplers, and while he’s lost his last three too, only his most recent fight – a KO loss to Punahele Soriano – was really alarming.

If Piechota chooses to brawl with Barriault then he’s likely in trouble, but if he can either land a takedown, or pick at him from the outside, then I’d give him a strong chance of winning. Piechota by decision is my pick.

After picking up a win just a month ago, Cortney Casey returns at Flyweight to take on Gillian Robertson. Robertson actually looked good in her initial UFC run, going 4-1 in her first 5 before being destroyed by Maycee Barber last October in a loss that showed her lack of pure athletic ability.

Casey’s wrestling or lack thereof has cost her in the past, but she doesn’t seem as depleted at 125bls and her grappling is clearly developing, as she showed in her armbar win last month. With that in mind, I feel like Casey is the better athlete, on a better run, and she’ll pick up another win by tapout here.

In a fight that sounds like it should be exciting, Frank Camacho goes to war with Matt Frevola in the Lightweight division. Camacho’s UFC career has been an up-and-down one, but you can’t fault him for sheer aggression; ‘The Crank’ has won Fight of the Night on 3 occasions thus far.

Frevola may be a little more skilled in all areas though, particularly on the ground, and given the gaps we’ve seen in Camacho’s grappling defence, I’m taking ‘The Steamrolla’ to win by submission.

In what could be a fight with title implications, veterans Roxanne Modafferi and Lauren Murphy face off at Flyweight. At 37, Modafferi should probably be slowing down, but in reality she’s shown the best form of her career as of late after really working on her strength and athleticism – an area that’s let her down greatly in the past.

Murphy – a tough grinder – is coming off two straight wins, but it’ll be interesting to see how she deals with the new and improved ‘Happy Warrior’. Given that Murphy has been outgrappled in the past, I’m going to take Modafferi by decision here.

Finally, in a late-notice Lightweight showdown, Austin Hubbard faces newcomer Max Rohskopf. Hubbard hasn’t shown a lot more than raw skills and extreme toughness in his UFC career thus far, but to be fair, ‘Thud’ was also faced with a pair of grappling monsters in Davi Ramos and Mark Madsen in two of his three fights.

At 5-0, Rohskopf has far less experience – but this again looks like a horrible fight for Hubbard. The newcomer has submitted all 5 of his opponents, trains under world-class grappler Robert Drysdale, and was a NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at the University of North Carolina. Hubbard might last the distance again, but I’m confident in taking the prospect Rohskopf by decision here.