UFC Predictions: UFC Fight Night: Alexander Volkov vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik predictions

#3. UFC Fight Night: The Main Card

Veterans Felice Herrig and Karolina Kowalkiewicz rematch on this weekend's main card

In a featherweight bout, Michael Trizano faces Lucas Almeida. The winner of TUF 27, Trizano hasn’t lit it up in the UFC too much after his 2018 debut, as he’s only won two more fights since. However, he’s a hard-nosed fighter with decent skills in all areas.

In that sense, this one should come down to how good Almeida is. He’s put together a record of 13-1 on the Brazilian regional scene. Still, as we’ve seen numerous times before, finishing overmatched opponents in Brazil often doesn’t prepare a fighter for the tougher wrestlers they’ll face in the big show.

The pick: Trizano via decision.

At flyweight, Poliana Botelho takes on Karine Silva. Given that she’s 3-3 in the octagon, this could be the last chance saloon for Botelho, while Silva is making her UFC debut with a record of 14-4.

In many ways, this fight mirrors Trizano vs. Almeida. Still, while Botelho possesses more octagon experience than Silva, she doesn’t have that hard-nosed wrestling background that tends to test Brazilian prospects. Given that ‘Killer’ looks like a finisher – none of her 14 wins have gone the distance – she seems capable of winning here, probably via submission.

The pick: Silva via submission.

In a light-heavyweight clash, Alonzo Menifield battles Askar Mozharov. This fight promises to be a wild one. Menifield is a heavy swinging puncher who either knocks his opponents out or tends to gas out, while debutant Mozharov is 21-8 with just two of those fights going the distance.

This could definitely go either way, but Menifield has better experience at the top level, so the pick is ‘Atomic’ in a fight that isn’t likely to go the distance.

The pick: Menifield via KO/TKO.

Finally, strawweight veterans Felice Herrig and Karolina Kowalkiewicz face off in a rematch of their 2018 encounter. This could well be the end of the road for either or both of them, as Herrig is 37 years old, Kowalkiewicz is 36, and neither woman has won in years, with Herrig’s losing streak dating back to 2017 and Kowalkiewicz’s back to that 2018 win over her opponent this weekend.

Despite Kowalkiewicz’s losing record being a little longer than that of ‘Lil Bulldog’, stretching to five fights, not enough has changed since the first fight for it to be different – and if anything, Herrig is even more banged up due to numerous injuries. It’d be nice to see Herrig pick up a win, but the pick is Kowalkiewicz via split decision.

---

#4. UFC Fight Night: The Prelims

Picks in bold

UFC lightweight division: Alex da Silva Coelho vs. Joe Solecki

UFC featherweight division: Damon Jackson vs. Daniel Argueta

UFC flyweight division: Zarrukh Adashev vs. Ode Osbourne

UFC lightweight division: Benoit Saint-Denis vs. Niklas Stolze

UFC bantamweight division: Tony Gravely vs. Johnny Munoz Jr

UFC flyweight division: Zhalgas Zhumagulov vs. Jeff Molina

UFC welterweight division: Andreas Michailidis vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov

UFC flyweight division: Erin Blanchfield vs. JJ Aldrich