Hey fight friends, UFC Fight Night 79 is live from Seoul, South Korea early as heck on Saturday. The fights start at 5AM ET on Fight Pass. A ton of mostly unknown dudes and a way too early fight time means predictions should be fun. Let’s figure out who is going to win.
Important Standings of Note:
Jessica: 521-363-6 (59 percent)
Burnsy: 519-331-6 (61 percent)
Vince: 234-155-2 (60 percent)
Ryan: 10-5-1 (66 percent)
Danny: 161-77-1 (67 percent)
Spilled: 86-68-2 (56 percent)
Sydnie: 16-12 (57 percent)
Chris: 46-18-2 (71 percent)
NY Ric: 36-26-1 (57 percent)
Ghost: 6-7 (46 percent)
Seth: 32-15 (68 percent)
Biss: 41-39-1 (51 percent)
Jared: 107-56-1 (66 percent)
Melanie: 44-23 (66 percent)
Fake Mike Goldberg: 21-16 (57 percent)
Welterweight – “Non-Stop Action-Packed” Dominique Steele vs “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim
Jessica: He’s not the Big Dong we all know and love, but we still start things off with a Big Dong. I’ll say DHK the Lesser wins with a second round KO.
Burnsy: Non-Stop Action Packed got stopped with some action in the first round of his last fight, so his nickname is a little suspect. However, I know nothing of Dong, so I’ll take Steele to get the early AM victory with a hash brown inside.
Bantamweight – Ning “Smasher” Guangyou vs Marco “Psycho” Beltran
Jessica: Any man that can beat Royston Wee is a f*cking monster, guys. Guangyou is going to SMASHER the hell out of Beltran. Ning wins with a first round KO.
Burnsy: Smasher is 2-0 to start his UFC career while Psycho is 1-0. The difference is I remember hearing Smasher’s name before, and his last fight was certainly memorable. I can’t pick Beltran out of a lineup so I can’t pick him here either.
Flyweight – Yao “The Conquerer” Zhikui vs Fredy “El Profe” Serrano
Jessica: Serrano is undefeated, and I see that continuing here. Sorry Yao, but Fredy’s gonna Conquer you. Serrano takes a third round TKO.
Burnsy: Two inexperience little dudes facing off, and I know nothing about either. I’ll take the Conqueror coming off a UFC win in May.
Strawweight – Seo Hee “Hamderlei Silva” Ham vs Cortney “Cast Iron” Casey
Jessica: Oh dang, this should be good. Both lost fun fights to Jojo Calderwood, so I’m expecting fun kickboxing here. I’m giving the edge to Seo Hee because c’mon, her nickname is “Hamderlei Silva”! Ham takes a decision.
Burnsy: Ham has a ton of experience and is fighting at home, so she’ll get the easy win.
Lightweight – Tae Hyun “Supernatural” Bang vs Leo “The Lion” Kuntz
Jessica: I’ve made my thoughts about this fight abundantly clear:
https://twitter.com/LegKickTKO/status/669340160170041345
As for actually predicting the outcome, I’ve got to give this to Tae Hyun. I see him landing some huge bombs on Leo and knocking him out in the second.
Burnsy: Grow up, Jessica. Bang has been anything but super in the UFC, so I’ll go with KUNTZ here, although I’m feeling a bit rusty. Great baseball joke, thanks.
Featherweight – Yui Chul “The Korean Bulldozer” Nam vs Mike “El Cucuy” De La Torre
Jessica: I feel that Mike DLT is knock out-able by Nam, but something in the back of my head is telling me that Yui won’t get the opportunity for the big punches here. De La Torre wins by decision here.
Burnsy: I almost got my El Cucuys mixed up, but Mike is the one who is 1-2-1 in the UFC, which is no bueno. Nam’s first two UFC fights have been splits (1-1) so I’ll take the home crowd to put a charge into his boring ways.
Middleweight – Dongi “The Ox” Yang vs Jake “The Prototype” Collier
Jessica: The return of Dog Gi Yang! There’s only one man in all of combat sports who can ever really be called the Prototype. Also, Yang friggin THUMPS. Dongi knocks out Collier in the first.
Burnsy: I’m not picking against a man named Dongi.
Featherweight – Doo Ho “Korean Superboy” Choi vs Sam Sicilia
Jessica: I high fived Choi after his win at UFC in Austin last year, and Sicilia trains at SIK JITSU. I’m going Choi all the way. Doo Ho wins by first round TKO.
Burnsy: Sam has won two in a row, so a third win will be very big for him and might get his name in the mix for a bigger fight. Doo Ho hasn’t fought in over a year. Hard not to pick Sam on this one.
Welterweight – Yoshihiro “Sexyama” Akiyama vs Alberto “Soldier of God” Mina
Jessica: Akiyama hasn’t had a good run in the UFC, so part of me thinks Joe Silva is giving him a layup on semi-home soil. Is Mina near the same level of Amir Sadollah, or is he actually kind of good? I’m honestly not sure. I’ll go ahead and say Akiyama takes this with a razor thin split decision.
Burnsy: Mina did my favorite thing that any fighter can do, short of pulling Travis Browne’s shorts down and pointing at his tiny ding dong in a packed arena, and that’s make his UFC debut with a convincing first round TKO victory. However, that was over a year ago. Akiyama returned from a two-year layoff after losing four of his first five UFC fights and defeated Sadollah, but that was also over a year ago. Both of these fighters are at risk of being rusty, but I’ll usually take the guy who is undefeated and has finished every one of his 11 career fights. Mina it is.
Welterweight – Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim vs Dominic “Sho Nuff” Waters
Jessica: The real Big Dong we’re all familiar with! Dom Waters is A Dude, and he’s going to get severely bothered by DHK. The only possible downfall for Kim is if he falls in love with twirling, twirling towards freedom and throws too many spinny attacks. Other than that, Kim should out grapple Waters and TKO him in the second.
Burnsy: While I worry about Stun Gun’s ability to rise to the occasion, Waters is nowhere near Tyron Woodley’s level yet. Kim’s gonna put on a show for the home crowd, even if I do respect any fighter whose nickname pays tribute to The Last Dragon (special longform feature coming very soon!).
Welterweight – Benson “Smooth” Henderson vs Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal
Jessica: What a weird, tangled history here. We were originally going to have two lightweights move up and face two welterweights. Then Thiago Alves got hurt, pulling him from his contest against Benson Henderson. Instead of shuffling up Dong Hyun Kim (Probably in an effort not to split the Korean crowd) to the main event, the other lightweight in the equation, Jorge Masvidal, now meets Bendo at neither man’s natural weight class of 170 pounds. As for the prediction, I’ve got Benson all day here. He was one of the very best at 155 and even showed he could hang with enormous welterweights when he submitted Brandon Thatch. Masvidal is a solid guy, but never really broke into the upper echelon of lightweight fighters. Benson will wear Jorge down and get the submission in the fourth round as Masvidal starts to tire.
Burnsy: As a big Henderson fan, this fight makes me happy. The guy probably needs confidence more than anything at this point in his career so a second consecutive win at welterweight will probably give him a huge dose. This should be a quick and easy one for Smooth, and then we can all eat brunch.
Performance of the Night
Jessica: Doo Ho Choi, Dongi Yang
Burnsy: Henderson, Mina
Fight of the Night
Jessica: My breakfast, cast iron Ham
Burnsy: Akiyama vs Mina