UFC Fight Night 137: Santos vs. Anders - Predictions and Picks

#6 The Prelims: Fox Sports 2 card

Veteran Evan Dunham plans to retire after Saturday's show

In the night’s featured prelim fight, submission artist Charles Oliveira faces off with Christos Giagos, who is making his UFC return after three years away from the promotion. Giagos has apparently improved in that time, but he’s a submission artist who looked outgunned by better grapplers last time around, so Oliveira should be able to pick up the win – probably via submission - despite his glass cannon tendencies.

Longtime veteran Evan Dunham will be making his final appearance in MMA against Francisco Trinaldo, who surprisingly enough is actually 4 years older than Dunham at 40. But he hasn’t taken anywhere near the kind of damage that Dunham has over the years and still appears to be in his prime – his only recent losses are to James Vick and Kevin Lee, both legitimate contenders. Trinaldo via decision – probably coming close to a finish on a few occasions – seems like a reasonable pick.

The 205lbs division will see the debut of another prospect in the form of Contender Series veteran Ryan Spann, who takes on former Heavyweight Luis Henrique. Despite two UFC wins to his name via submission, Henrique is almost a pure takedown artist in the vein of Michel Prazeres or Gleison Tibau. This should be enough to see him past Spann, particularly as he should have a size advantage, but Spann winning would likely make for the more exciting outcome.

Finally, heavy-handed Bellator veteran Heavyweight Augusto Sakai makes his official UFC debut following a win on the Contender Series. He’ll face Chase Sherman, a brawler with an iron chin and a tendency to trade – but also to get very sloppy at times. Sakai’s best bet would be to go all-out for an early stoppage, as a war of attrition probably favours Sherman, but given ‘The Vanilla Gorilla’ has been stopped by strikes before, Sakai via KO is my pick.