UFC Fight Night 149: Overeem vs. Oleinik - Predictions and Picks

#6 Krzysztof Jotko vs. Alen Amedovski

Krzysztof Jotko is currently on a 3-fight losing streak

It’s pretty wild to think that it was only a couple of years ago that Jotko looked like a genuine title contender at 185lbs – the Polish fighter had put together a 6-1 record in the UFC and battered former title challenger Thales Leites in their fight, even coming out on top in the grappling exchanges.

Then 2017 happened and Jotko was blanketed by David Branch in one of the worst televised fights of the year, and was then knocked out by Uriah Hall in a stirring comeback from the former TUF finalist. A third knockout loss to Brad Tavares followed last year – leaving Jotko with his back to the proverbial wall coming into this fight.

Thankfully for the Polish fighter, this looks like an inherently winnable fight for him. Initially pegged to fight a potentially dangerous debutant in the unbeaten Roman Kopylov, he’s now faced with a Bellator veteran in Macedonia’s Amedovski, another UFC newcomer but not one who appears to be as big a challenge as Kopylov would’ve been.

Sure, Amedovski has 8 KO’s in 8 fights, has only been out of the first round twice and has actually finished 4 fights in under a minute, but judging by his footage, his opponents haven’t been up to a lot and worryingly for him, even those opponents have had some success grappling with him before succumbing to his knockout power.

Assuming Jotko can avoid the initial rush that Amedovski should bring – and even that’s a bit of a question mark I’d say given the usual “Octagon shock” that newcomers can often suffer with – I think he can drag the Macedonian to the ground and deal with him pretty handily there.

The Pick: Jotko via first round TKO