UFC Fight Night 140: Magny vs. Ponzinibbio - Predictions and Picks

#7 The Prelims: Fox Sports 1 card

Bartosz Fabinski has become known for his powerful wrestling game

The featured prelim of the night sees a battle of grinders in the form of Brazil’s Michel Prazeres taking on Poland’s Bartosz Fabinski. Both men have become best known for using powerful top games to grind out seemingly tougher opponents, but they’ve also earned the reputation for being dull fighters in the process. Despite Prazeres having the better wins, I’m going with the upset here; Fabinski will be the biggest man Prazeres has faced yet, and the Brazilian has gotten used to bullying far smaller 155lbers around. I feel that Fabinski could use Prazeres’ own style against him and grind out a likely yawn-inducing decision.

In what could be one of the last matches to take place in the Flyweight division, Brazil’s Alexandre Pantoja faces Japanese grappler Ulka Sasaki in a match that’s likely to hit the ground. Despite Sasaki’s huge reach and length for 125lbs, Pantoja should be too powerful for him and I can see him using top control to take a decision.

Austin Arnett will be making a surprising return to the UFC after showing very little in his first two fights, while opponent Humberto Bandenay is looking to rebound from a surprising slam knockout loss to Gabriel Benitez in May. Bandenay might be young but the Peruvian is an explosive athlete with a lot of experience, and I think he can win this one by knockout.

Finally TUF: Latin America veteran Hector Aldana takes on a late replacement in the form of Argentina’s Laureano Staropoli in a likely brawl. Footage on Staropoli is sparse and while Aldana hasn’t shown much in his own UFC career, I can’t pick a largely unknown newcomer in good conscience, so I’ll take the Mexican by KO.