Lock City MMA

Felipe Lima is an exciting prospect, who seems to have a mix of everything. Payton Talbott has nice striking, but his grappling and general strength was called into question in his last fight. Lima has been fighting at 145 lbs, and doing well, but now at his proper weight class of 135 I expect he'll dominate Talbott. He'll have the physicality edge, and will present a definite submission threat. Lima will even be a threat on the feet, despite that being where Talbott will want the fight.

Khalil Rountree has too much explosivity for this fight to go the distance. I expect he will land something big on Hill's chin, and has the finishing instincts to secure a knockout win.

Blaydes has the striking to either get a knockout on the feet, or a ground and pound knockout victory. He also has the wrestling to control Kuniev on the mat and get that GnP.

High confidence on Oban Elliot, the superior fighter in this matchup. He's quicker, smarter, has better movement, better timing, and he can connect with something or more consequence than Ko. I expect Elliott to spend a round getting his rhythm, and then to let his hands catch a stiff and relatively slow-to-react fighter hard.

Oban Elliott was on a run of decisions, but his KO of Basil Haffez in his last fight showed his development. I believe Ko is too stiff to not get knocked out here. He doesn't seem the quickest witted, and his reflexes aren't the best. But Elliott can crack, and I think he'll win by knockout here.

Mullins has already beat Zheleznyakova, before they were in the UFC. Mullins will win this fight for the same reason she won the first - she may have inferior striking and movement, but her ability and strength on the ground is far, far better than Zheleznyakova's. Mullins will get on top and finish this fight, just like the first.

Mullins won their first fight (pre UFC) by ground and pound. I expect the exact same result here, due to her superiority on the mat and her aggression. If Mullins has been working on submissions, she may try to finish the fight with a sub to prove her development, but I'll gamble she sticks with what she knows - ground and pound TKO.

Alekseeva is a low level women's fighter with lots of flaws. But she's tough, tenacious, and has finishing ability. Sygula is a low level women's fighter with the same amount of flaws but no real virtues. Alekseeva should be too vicious for her, end up on top, and do real damage one way or the other.

Hamdy is not a great mixed martial artist. He's strong in the first round - he can use his wrestling to smother and tie up opponents, and rudimentary striking to mix things up. In the second round, he can do more of the same, but at a much slower pace, and more laboriously. In the third round he's gassed and will throw lifeless hands while hoping for a clinch situation. But despite his obvious drawbacks, I still think he beats Mo Usman. Mo Usman is simply not good. He seems to have nothing more than a semi-somewhat-effective jab. But that's it. And his getups are terrible. All Hamdy has to do to win this fight is take Usman down three times, once at the start of each round, and do enough activity wise to avoid being stood up. Even if he gasses in the third, Mo Usman doesn't really have anything to really trouble him with. Throw in the fact Hamdy will get the favour of the judges if it goes that far (and I think it will), I have to pick Hamdy here as a reasonably confident pick. Despite not really rating him at all.

Hamdy has limited finishing ability and Mo Usman, despite not being much good, is pretty tough. I predict Hamdy lays and prays for 15 minutes whenever he can, in between awkward striking encounters, for a decision win.