UFC Fight Night 147: Till vs. Masvidal - Predictions and Picks

#7. The Prelims: ESPN+ card

The UK's Arnold Allen headlines the prelims against Jordan Rinaldi

The pacing of these ESPN+ cards has been excellent so far, and with 7 preliminary fights to be shown this weekend, we should be in for a quick-fire night of action – hopefully anyway.

Headlining the prelim card is a Featherweight bout between Arnold Allen and Jordan Rinaldi. I like Allen here – the Brit is 4-0 in the UFC to date and has largely relied on some excellent grappling chops to get him through. Rinaldi meanwhile is 2-2 in the Octagon but hasn’t really shown a lot to date outside of his wrestling – I think Allen’s slightly more skilled and should be able to outwork him to a decision.

At Lightweight, Marc Diakiese faces Joseph Duffy in a fight between two prospects who’ve fallen on hard times as of late. Diakiese received a ridiculous amount of hype after winning his first 3 UFC fights, but then seemed to fall off a cliff in his next 3 fights, as he was outworked by Drakkar Klose, Dan Hooker and Nasrat Haqparast in disappointing outings. Duffy meanwhile was last seen being knocked out by James Vick back at UFC 217 over a year ago. This could go either way if Diakiese regains his past form, but I simply think he’s a busted prospect now and Duffy has slick skills in all areas. I’ll take Duffy via submission.

Saparbek Safarov was initially pegged to face noted kickboxer Gokhan Saki at 205lbs here, but with Saki sidelined, newcomer Nicolae Negumereanu will now face the Russian instead. The undefeated Romanian appears to be a pretty strong grappler, and while Safarov has the UFC experience on his side, he’s also looked terrible in both of his Octagon outings. Call me crazy but I’m taking Negumereanu via submission in this one.

England’s Tom Breese returns at Middleweight to face Ian Heinisch in an intriguing bout with a bit of a backstory – Breese was supposed to face Cezar Ferreira last year only to withdraw with an injury, and Heinisch then stepped in and beat Ferreira instead. Heinisch looked excellent in that fight, using his striking and wrestling to outwork the Brazilian, but the more technical Breese might prove a more difficult opponent. How well Breese adjusts to 185lbs could prove to be an issue here, but I think he can use his jab and striking skills to outpoint Heinisch for a decision.

At Featherweight, Danny Henry takes on Dan Ige in a fun-sounding fight between two up-and-comers. Henry has already claimed two upset wins in his UFC career thus far using his tight grappling game, and while Ige is on a two-fight win streak I think Henry’s wins over Hakeem Dawodu and Daniel Teymur are more impressive, so I’ll take Henry to win a tight decision here.

Liverpool’s Molly McCann faces Priscila Cachoeira at Flyweight in what could be a loser-leaves-town bout, given both women lost their previous fights in one-sided fashion. There’s not a lot to go on to be honest as both ladies have wins over overmatched opponents for the most part, but I’m guessing McCann will take this due to the home country advantage.

Finally at Featherweight, former Commonwealth freestyle wrestling bronze medallist Mike Grundy debuts to take on Nad Narimani. It seems baffling to write about a British wrestler but there you go; Grundy is currently 11-1 in MMA with a win over UFC veteran Fernando Bruno in his last fight, and naturally, he’s primarily a grappler. Narimani meanwhile is already 2-0 in the UFC and uses a bullying style based on his massive size at 145lbs. I’m going with Narimani here based on his brute strength and experience, but to see Grundy outwrestle him to a decision wouldn’t be a total shocker.