UFC Fight Night 168: Felder vs. Hooker - Predictions and Picks

#7 The Prelims: ESPN+ card

Australia's Jake Matthews headlines the preliminary portion of the card

Headlining this weekend’s prelims – also to be broadcast on ESPN+ – is a fun-sounding Welterweight tilt between Jake Matthews and Emil Weber Meek. Australia’s Matthews has never quite hit the heights that his early potential suggested, but he’s still a big, powerful fighter with knockout power and some underrated grappling chops. I worry for him in this fight, though; ‘Valhalla’ is one of the few fighters who might be more powerful than Matthews at 170lbs and while his losses to Kamaru Usman and Bartosz Fabinski – particularly the second one – showed his limitations, he feels like the kind of fighter who could give ‘The Celtic Kid’ some problems. I’m going with Matthews as I feel like he’s got the better cardio, but this could go either way.

In another Welterweight clash, Aussie Callan Potter takes on China’s Kenan Song. More of a grappler, Potter has a ton of experience to his name but isn’t the best athlete, and his UFC debut saw him stopped very quickly by Jalin Turner. Song meanwhile carries big power in his punches, has three UFC wins to his name, and seems to be much quicker than his opponent. I like Song by decision in this one.

At Flyweight, New Zealand’s own Kai Kara-France takes on veteran Tyson Nam. Kara-France wasn’t expected to do that well in the UFC after his run on TUF but he’s been a pleasant surprise, winning 3 of his 4 fights with his excellent grappling and incredible gas tank. This one looks like a winnable fight for him, too – Nam has some skills but is likely past his prime these days, having come to the UFC a little too late in his career. I like Kara-France by decision.

At Strawweight, Angela Hill returns at very late notice to replace the injured Hannah Goldy in a fight with Thailand’s Loma Lookboonmee. This could be a hell of a striking battle, as Hill is one of the more dangerous women on her feet at 115lbs, while Lookboonmee showed a lot of talent in her UFC debut even if she’s hugely inexperienced. Hill’s experience ought to carry her through here, but I’m not so sure – Lookboonmee has been fighting since she was 7 years old and seems like a truly dangerous prospect. I’ll take the Thai fighter by a surprising decision.

At Welterweight, Maki Pitolo faces Takashi Sato in what sounds like a dangerous fight for Pitolo, who showed very little in his UFC debut – a loss at the hands of Callan Potter. Sato meanwhile was beaten by Belal Muhammad’s grappling in his previous fight, but before that he looked excellent in stopping Ben Saunders violently. I’m not sure Pitolo has the grappling chops to take out Sato so I’ll go with the Japanese fighter by TKO.

Finally at Flyweight, Priscila Cachoeira takes on Shana Dobson. This is likely the last chance saloon for Cachoeira, who is 0-3 in the UFC and has probably only been given this many chances due to her being willing to fight Valentina Shevchenko in the future champion’s 125lbs debut. Dobson has also struggled to establish herself – she’s 1-2 in the UFC – but I think she’s probably got the toughness to edge past Cachoeira via decision.