UFC Fight Night 169: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo - Predictions and Picks

#5 Gabriel Silva vs. Kyler Phillips

Gabriel Silva will look for his first UFC win over Kyler Phillips

Both of these Bantamweights will be looking for their first UFC win this weekend; Phillips is making his UFC debut following a 6-1 run on the regional circuit – and a loss to eventual champion Brad Katona on TUF 27 – while Silva debuted back in July 2019 with a tough loss at the hands of the far more experienced Ray Borg.

Given both men are primarily striking-based fighters, with 7 KO’s or TKO’s between them, this could be an exciting opener. Silva appears to be a more boxing-based striker, with a lot of power in his hands. He does train with Team Nogueira which ought to bode well for his grappling game too, but then he was easily controlled by Borg. With that said, Borg is a tremendous wrestler, and so it’s hard to hold that loss against him.

Phillips meanwhile is more of a rounded striker, as he tends to fire a lot of kicks and longer strikes from range, while using a lot of movement and footwork to avoid his opponent’s strikes. Given his penchant for trading, the likelihood of this one hitting the mat seems low, so it should come down to whether the shorter Silva can get inside Phillips’ range to catch him.

This is honestly a toss-up due to the inexperience of both men at this level, but I feel like Silva has fought the slightly better competition and has UFC experience already, so I’ll take him to edge a tight decision.

The Pick: Silva via unanimous decision