Welterweights
Joaquin Buckley (15-6, 5-4 UFC) vs. Andre Fialho (16-6, 2-3 UFC)Buckley’s UFC career has been a fascinating ride. He came to the UFC as a late replacement in 2020 and looked like a prospect to watch, then became an unlikely viral star in just his second UFC fight, uncorking a spinning back kick to knockout Impa Kasanganay in one of the best highlights in mixed martial arts history. Both the UFC and Buckley looked ready to strike while the iron was hot, with the St. Louis native fighting on quick turnarounds against beatable opponents. That lasted all of a few months until Buckley got knocked out by Alessio Di Chirico, after which he became more of a promotional afterthought. Buckley has since become a respectable middle-of-the-road action fighter, though 2022 seemed to affirm his ceiling for the time being. Buckley is a physical talent who can throw power with an impressive amount of cardio, but ranked middleweights like Nassourdine Imavov and Chris Curtis managed to handily outmaneuver his game. In a bit of a surprise, Buckley now drops down to welterweight to take on Fialho. Portugal’s Fialho seemingly attempted to speed-run an entire UFC career over the course of 2022, debuting in January and packing five fights into the calendar year. Fialho has some obvious talent and some of the right ideas, mostly built around effective pressure, but he seems to take himself out of the fight against opponents who survive the early going. Fialho can pivot to other approaches but often seems uncomfortable, and his last two fights have seen him get knocked out as part of that process. This may not even get that long, as this looks like a race to a knockout. Fialho gets almost all of his work done in close quarters, which should result in the two trading early and often. A knockout could happen in either direction, but Buckley gets the nod as the more mentally tracked-in of the two fighters. The pick is Buckley via first-round knockout.
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Dern vs. Hill
Hernandez vs. Shahbazyan
Godinez vs. Ducote
Buckley vs. Fialho
Ferreira vs. Johnson
Borshchev vs. Hayisaer
The Prelims