UFC Fight Night 153: Gustafsson vs. Smith - Predictions and Picks

#4 Makwan Amirkhani vs. Chris Fishgold

Finland's Makwan Amirkhani is always exciting to watch

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen ‘Mr Finland’ Amirkhani in the Octagon – a year in fact – and that’s way too long considering when he does compete, he’s one of the most exciting fighters in the 145lbs division, blending his striking and grappling together with some truly wild aggression.

In fact, his previous fight – a split decision win over Jason Knight – was one of the more underrated ones of 2018.

The good thing here is that Fishgold is a very similar fighter to Amirkhani. The Brit is ultra-aggressive, and while he was easily shut down by Calvin Kattar in their fight, he took the fight to Kattar with some wild punches before being knocked out.

Against Daniel Teymur meanwhile, he displayed excellent ground chops, taking the Swedish striker down and running a clinic on him before taking him out with a second-round rear naked choke.

This looks to me like a fight that has the potential to be the best on this card given the similar styles of both men and the fact that neither tends to back down. Two things seem quite notable to me, though; firstly Fishgold was taken out worryingly easily by the shots of Kattar, who hasn’t shown himself to be a massive power puncher even if he’s clearly an excellent fighter.

And secondly, at 5’8”, Fishgold is giving up two inches of height and length to Amirkhani, who does fight well from range.

For me this one could go either way but I’m leaning towards Amirkhani. He’s slightly more proven at the elite level than Fishgold, he hasn’t been stopped and showed an excellent chin when he was hit by Jason Knight (despite Knight’s taunts that his chin was weak!), and on the ground I favour his more dynamic style slightly too. I can’t see a finish though so I’ll take the Finn by a very tight decision.

The Pick: Amirkhani via split decision