UFC Predictions: UFC Fight Night: Jared Cannonier vs. Gregory Rodrigues

The UFC returns to Las Vegas next weekend for another Fight Night event. Unsurprisingly, this one isn't the strongest card.

UFC Fight Night: Jared Cannonier vs. Gregory Rodrigues features a potential middleweight slugfest in the headliner, but the rest leaves a lot to be desired.

As always, though, fans can simply hope for some entertaining fights, as there isn't much star power to look forward to.

Here are the predicted outcomes for UFC Fight Night: Jared Cannonier vs. Gregory Rodrigues.

---

#1. UFC middleweight bout: Jared Cannonier vs. Gregory Rodrigues

Next weekend's headliner should be a banger of a middleweight fight, for as long as it lasts, of course.

Jared Cannonier and Gregory Rodrigues approach their fights the same way - they want to knock their opponent out with heavy hands. So which man is going to be left standing in Las Vegas?

Of the two, Cannonier is far more proven. A former title challenger, 'The Killa Gorilla' holds huge wins over Sean Strickland, Marvin Vettori, and Derek Brunson.

While Cannonier's heavy hands are his most notable weapon, he's also an underrated wrestler, and the truth is that he probably does his best work from the top position.

If he gets a foe down, he's adept at smashing them with huge force, using his fists and elbows to crush from the top. 'The Killa Gorilla' isn't the best striker from a technical standpoint, but his power always makes him a big threat.

Unfortunately, last year seemed to mark a turning point for him. Cannonier was beaten badly twice, by Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho. More to the point, he looked plodding against both men, and both got the better of him standing.

Sure, it's true that Cannonier probably took the fight with Borralho too soon after the loss to Imavov, but the point still stands. At 40 years old, is 'The Killa Gorilla' now past his prime?

Rodrigues will look to test his chin. A heavy-handed brawler, 'Robocop' looks to brutalize his foes with strong punches, and if he gets an opponent hurt, he's a very dangerous finisher.

The problem for Rodrigues is that he's largely flat-footed and not exactly quick, and tends to rely on his chin to get him through exchanges at times.

That might not be advisable against Cannonier. While 'The Killa Gorilla' is not fast per se, he's very explosive, and if this comes down to who draws first, he's likely to win.

Rodrigues' best approach here might be to wear Cannonier down in the clinch before looking to land something nasty, but the issue with that is going to be that he'll leave himself open for a takedown.

Overall, then, while Cannonier might be past his best now, this looks like a good stylistic fight for him. Rodrigues is unlikely to be the quicker fighter, and his tendency to leave himself wide open is probably going to cost him.

The pick, therefore, is Cannonier to take the Brazilian down and punish him en route to a TKO.

The Pick: Cannonier via second-round TKO

---

#2. UFC featherweight bout: Calvin Kattar vs. Youssef Zalal

Next weekend's co-headliner comes in the featherweight division, and with any luck, should produce a firefight.

It also features one fighter who's been on a terrible slide against one who's on an impressive run. So can Calvin Kattar arrest his slump and return to the kind of form that propelled him into contention? Or will this be Youssef Zalal's breakout performance?

Kattar has been around for a long time now, making his debut back in 2017. 'The Boston Finisher' is an exciting brawler who carries heavy power in his shots, and he's scored wins over the likes of Shane Burgos, Jeremy Stephens, and Dan Ige.

Unfortunately, Kattar is also arguably too tough for his own good. While it was cool to see him push the now-retired Zabit Magomedsharipov to the limit, nobody needed to see him take violent beatings from Max Holloway and Josh Emmett.

Most recently, Kattar returned from a serious knee injury to suffer a loss to Aljamain Sterling in a fight that, to be fair, was quite close.

Zalal hasn't fought the level of competition that Kattar has. 'The Moroccan Devil' washed out of the UFC following a series of three losses and a draw back in 2021, but is now riding a six-fight win streak.

Three of those fights have come in the octagon, and all three have seen Zalal finish his foes via submission in impressive fashion. So can Zalal tap out Kattar next weekend?

The worry for 'The Boston Finisher' has to be the fact that he was taken down by Sterling, who is a fantastic wrestler, but a smaller fighter - multiple times, and didn't have too much of an answer for it.

However, it is worth noting that Zalal isn't as strong a wrestler as Sterling, and Kattar does have excellent stats when it comes to takedown defense, with a 72% success rate.

If 'The Moroccan Devil' can't get this one to the ground, then, he may well be outgunned. Even past his prime at this point, Kattar can still give an opponent hell standing. He's still got power, and his combinations remain excellent.

Overall, assuming Kattar isn't shot, this looks like a good fight for him. Zalal's never fought anyone on this level before, while 'The Boston Finisher' has routinely mixed it with the best in the division and while he's suffered losses, he's never looked outclassed.

It's hard to pick a fighter on a losing streak to beat one on a winning streak, as momentum in MMA is huge. Despite that, it just doesn't seem like a safe call to take Zalal to win this one.

The Pick: Kattar via decision

---

#3. UFC Fight Night: The Main Card

In a middleweight bout, Edmen Shahbazyan takes on Dylan Budka. This could well be the last chance saloon for Shahbazyan. 'Golden Boy' has won just two of his last seven bouts, and did not look good in his last fight with Gerald Meerschaert.

It is notable, though, that outside of Meerschaert, Shahbayzan has only lost to very high-level fighters like Derek Brunson and Nassourdine Imavov. Budka would not be considered among them. 'The Mindless Hulk' is 7-4, and has lost both of his octagon appearances in largely one-sided fashion.

There's a chance that Shahbazyan is shot, of course, but given he's still only 27 years old, he should have something still in the tank at least. The pick is Shahbazyan via TKO.

In a lightweight fight, Ismael Bonfim faces Nazim Sadykhov. Bonfim has shown himself to be dangerous in his brief UFC career, most famously switching off the lights on Terrance McKinney with an incredible flying knee. However, he was largely worked over on the ground in his lone octagon loss to Benoit Saint-Denis.

Sadykhov, meanwhile, is still unbeaten in the octagon, although his last fight saw him take a draw against Viacheslav Borshchev. 'Black Wolf' did dominate that fight on the ground for large portions, though, and appears to be slightly more well-rounded than 'Marreta'.

This one could go either way and is one of the toughest fights on the card to pick, but the prediction is Sadykhov via decision.

In a middleweight tilt, Rodolfo Vieira takes on Andre Petroski. This one is interesting as Vieira, one of the best grapplers in octagon history, is faced with a fellow grappler for once.

Does this mean that 'The Black Belt Hunter' will win easily? Not quite. Vieira's cardio has let him down on multiple occasions in the UFC and has cost him some fights, including an embarrassing submission at the hands of Anthony Hernandez.

With that said, Petroski's cardio hasn't been perfect in his own right, and it feels unlikely that he'll want to stop this fight from hitting the mat. Given that it's so dangerous to go hold-for-hold with 'The Black Belt Hunter', the pick is Vieira via submission.

Finally, at featherweight, Connor Matthews takes on Jose Delgado. Neither of these men is all that experienced in the octagon, but it does appear that Delgado perhaps has more potential.

Matthews was beaten relatively easily in his octagon debut, while Delgado - who has no decisions on his record - looked excellent in his appearance on Dana White's Contender Series. Therefore, the pick - although it's always a slight guess - is Delgado via KO.

---

#4. UFC Fight Night: The Prelims

Picks in bold

UFC strawweight bout: Angela Hill vs. Ketlen Souza

UFC flyweight bout: Rafael Estevam vs. Jesus Santos Aguilar

UFC welterweight bout: Gabriel Bonfim vs. Khaos Williams

UFC bantamweight bout: Vince Morales vs. Elijah Smith

UFC heavyweight bout: Valter Walker vs. Don'Tale Mayes

UFC bantamweight bout: Julia Avila vs. Jacqueline Cavalcanti