UFC Fight Night 145: Blachowicz vs. Santos - Predictions and Picks

#7 Preliminary Bouts: ESPN+ card

The underrated Rustam Khabilov faces Diego Ferreira on the prelims

ESPN+ will also be playing host to the show’s prelim bouts, and in the headliner, Veronica Macedo takes on Gillian Robertson at Flyweight. Venezuela’s Macedo hasn’t shown a lot in her UFC career thus far, picking up two losses at the hands of Ashlee Evans-Smith and Andrea Lee.

The fact that Lee – known as a striker – outgrappled her is particularly worrying. Robertson meanwhile looked good in taking out Molly McCann last year on the ground and while she was submitted in her last fight, I favour her to work Macedo over to pick up a decision win here.

At Welterweight, Dwight Grant faces Carlo Pedersoli Jr in a fight that it’s a bit hard to care about given both men’s previous fights. Grant’s athletic ability and counterstriking should be enough to see him through I suspect, but who knows really? I’ll take Grant via decision.

Polo Reyes faces Damir Hadzovic at 155lbs in what promises to be a brawl, judging on the previous fights from both men. Hadzovic, a former Welterweight, should have a size advantage but I’m not sure that I trust him to ground Reyes, and the Mexican hits remarkably hard. I’m going with Reyes via KO here.

At Welterweight, Michel Prazeres takes on late replacement Ismail Naurdiev following the withdrawal of Ramazan Emeev. Naurdiev has a gaudy record (17-2) but I just can’t imagine him fending off the takedowns of Prazeres, who looked amazing last time out in taking out the tough Bartosz Fabinski. Prazeres via submission – putting him on an insane 9-fight win streak – is my pick.

At Featherweight, Chris Fishgold faces Daniel Teymur in what will likely be a stand-up affair. Fishgold lost by KO to Calvin Kattar in his UFC debut, but Kattar is a hugely talented fighter while Teymur appears to be a lesser version of brother David. I’ll take Fishgold via second round KO in this one.

Rustam Khabilov returns to take on fellow veteran Diego Ferreira at Lightweight, and for me this is the underrated Khabilov’s fight to lose, as Ferreira has shown issues with strong wrestlers before and has been beating much lower-level opponents. If Khabilov can get a finish here it’d be impressive, but I think he grinds out another decision.

Finally at Lightweight, Damir Ismagulov – who won his UFC debut in November – battles Spanish newcomer Joel Alvarez. I’m taking Ismagulov here; he just seems more tested than Alvarez, but to be honest there’s so little footage on both men it’s hard to choose.