Hey fight fans, we’ve had some big shake-ups on this card in the past few weeks, but things should be solidified now. UFC on Fox 19 kicks off at 4PM ET Saturday on Fight Pass, so let’s take a look at who’s fighting and how everyone’s gonna win.
2016 Important Results:
Jessica: 61-50-2 (55 percent)
Burnsy: 56-43-1 (57 percent)
Ryan: 5-1 (83 percent)
Jason: 14-10 (58 percent)
Jackman: 7-5 (58 percent)
Enrique: 7-5 (58 percent)
Jamie: 10-8 (56 percent)
Justin: 13-4 (76 percent)
Marty: 10-11 (48 percent)
Jared: 13-11 (54 percent)
Parker: 3-4 (43 percent)
Dr. Vet: 39-21-2 (65 percent)
Welterweight – Omari “Wolverine” Akhmedov vs Elizeu “Capoeira” Zaleski dos Santos
Jessica: DAGESTANI KNUCKLEGAME CARTEL. ALL DAY, EVERYDAY. I don’t know anything about Zaleski, but Omari is cool, despite some of his recent setbacks. I’m taking Akhmedov to win by third round TKO.
Burnsy: I don’t really know anything about dos Santos. On the other hand, Wolverine earned my respect back in 2014 when he did the right thing — the smart thing — and let Gunnar Nelson choke him out in the first round. You can’t hang with Gunni, so just let him have it. Much respect and Wolverine gets my backing from here on out.
Middleweight – Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira vs Oluwale “Holy War Angel” Bamgbose
Jessica: Here’s an important question: is Bamgbose better than Andrew Craig or worse than Sam Alvey? I don’t know if there are enough metrics to determine something like that. Anyway, Cezar and Oluwale both beat Daniel Sarafian, but Bamgbose stopped him with The Quickness. I’m taking him to put out Ferreira’s lights out. Bamgbose wins by second round TKO.
Burnsy: Mutante has been a first round Glass Joe in his last two fights, while Holy War Angel is coming off a fast and awesome win. I’ll take Bamgbose, even if I can’t pronounce his name.
Welterweight – Randy “Rudeboy” Brown vs Mike Graves
Jessica: I allegedly saw Graves on that awful south Florida season of TUF, but he didn’t leave a memorable impression in my brain. Brown was pretty okay in his UFC debut, so I’ll take him to win here. Randy wins with a third round TKO.
Burnsy: I have no clue who Mike Graves is, but I’m gonna pick him so we don’t have all the same picks here.
Bantamweight – John “The Magician” Dodson vs Manny “The Anvil” Gamburyan
Jessica: This fight makes no sense. Dodson is basically the second or third best flyweight on the roster, depending on if you think he can beat Joe Benavidez. He’s also got a KO win over the former bantamweight champ. On the flip side, dude, it’s Manny Gamburyan, he ain’t gonna win. Tiny Johnny Dodson is too dang quick and hits way too hard. Dodson wins with a first round KO.
Burnsy: Dodson is one of my favorite guys, so I’m not gonna pick against him. But I am gonna wonder why he’s so low on the card.
Lightweight – Drew Dober vs Islam Makhachev
Jessica: DAGESTANI KNUCKLEGAME CARTEL. ALL DAY, EVERYDAY. HECK YEAH, “RADICAL” ISLAM MAKHACHEV GONNA PUT THIS DOBER MAN DOWN! Makhachev wins by second round submission.
Burnsy: More like Nah-cklegame. Dober takes the win, in a pick I have no confidence in.
Welterweight – Court “Crusher” McGee vs Santiago “Gente Boa” Ponzinibbio
Jessica: Since I’ve forgotten everything except the two title fights at UFC 194, it feels like I haven’t seen Court fight in three years. Oh hey, both guys have lost to Ryan LaFlare, that’s uh, interesting I guess. I’m going to say that McGee uses his extreme DETERMINATION and FIGHTING SPIRIT to gut out any punishment he takes and battles back. McGee wins a scrappy, gritty decision.
Burnsy: This is pretty interesting, because Ponzinibbio is a finish or be finished type of fighter while McGee typically goes the distance. I’m gonna say this one goes three but Gente Boa pulls off the W.
Bantamweight – Bethe “Pitbull” Correia vs Raquel “Rocky” Pennington
Jessica: I’m thinking this will be a sloppy kickboxing bout for the first round before Pennington drags things to the ground. Then it’s submission time because Rocky’s got a good ground game. I’m not even sure if that’s a joke at this point. Pennington wins by second round submission.
Burnsy: It’s hard for me to take Pitbull seriously after she got her ass whooped by Ronda Rousey in a matter of seconds, especially now that the Rowdy One has been exposed. I like Rocky a lot, but I will begrudgingly give Pitbull the benefit of the doubt to get back into the very exclusive title conversation, because I’m already insanely bored by Miesha “The World’s Happiest Champion” Tate trying to get Cyborg to do her dirty work.
Lightweight – Michael “Maverick” Chiesa vs Beneil “Benny” Dariush
Jessica: I always struggle to remember anything about a Benny Dariush fight. At least I can remember that Chiesa is the hairy guy that wins by second round submission all the time. That’s enough for me, I’ll say Dariush beats up Mike in the first, but Chiesa makes a comeback and gets a second round RNC.
Burnsy: I like Dariush because I can sing his name like that one line in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but then Vince gets mad and acts like he invented it, so I don’t do it anymore. Whatever, I still pick Dariush.
Featherweight – Cub Swanson vs Hacran “Barnabe” Dias
Jessica: Swanson had a good winning streak going before he ran into Frankie Edgar, and then Max Holloway put him on a losing streak. Dias is pretty good, or maybe I’m putting too much stock into a win over Iuri Alcantara back in 2012? He also beat Darren Elkins a little more recently, but he’s also dropped fights to Ricardo Lamas and Nik Lentz. I think that means Dias is slightly less good than Cub, so I’ll take Swanson to win a decision here.
Burnsy: Cubs apparently can’t lose these days, so I’ll pick the Swanson variety.
Lightweight – Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov vs Darrell “The Saint” Horcher
Jessica: Really disappointed about the whole situation here. It sucks that Tony Fergz is hurt, it sucks that Cowboy is maybe hurt, it sucks that Khabib isn’t in the main event. However, at least I’ll get to see him fight again, which is rad as heck! I’m expecting Nurmagomedov to gift Horcher some frequent flyer miles and just throw him all over the cage. Khabib nabs a second round TKO.
Burnsy: The positive of this fight, regardless of who it involves, is that Khabib gets a win and then hopefully a title shot. Just please freakin’ stay healthy, dude. For the love of God, STAY HEALTHY!
Strawweight – “Thug” Rose Namajunas vs Tecia “The Tiny Tornado” Torres
Jessica: Aw man, this fight should be in the main event more than the stupid light heavies. Yeah, it’s a rematch, but it’s from three years ago in a different organization and that first fight was RAD AS HECK. Plus, this fight has much more in the way of title shot implications than anything else on the card now that Khabib versus Ferguson is off.
That said, I think Rose has improved a lot more than Tecia has, or at least has shown more improvements. Her grappling looked a lot better against Paige VanZant, and hey, Rose actually finished Angela Hill, unlike Tecia. I’m taking Rose to GET GET GET GET IT GET IT GET IT, it being a submission in the second round.
Burnsy: Well, one of two things happens here: 1) Thug Rose finishes Torres or 2) Torres wins via decision. I like Thug Rose more so I’ll take her to win, so she can lose to my girl JoJo.
Light Heavyweight – “Suga” Rashad Evans vs Glover Teixeira
Jessica: On paper this could have potential for a decent fight. Both guys have good striking with good to more good (I won’t say great) knockout power. In reality, I’m expecting a lot of tepid pattycake kickboxing, awful wrestling and probably a good deal of cage clinching. Despite the high ranks of both guys, neither should get within sniffing distance of a title shot, regardless of who the champ is. Sorry for being negative, I’m just really mad the main event isn’t either Khabib versus Cowboy or Rose versus Tecia. I guess Rashad wins a decision because sure, why not?
Burnsy: I honestly don’t care about this fight, because it isn’t, I don’t know… 2010. Like Mobby said, if we get the best versions of these guys then this will be a rad fight. I don’t know that the best versions exist anymore, though. That said, Glover has looked much better in his recent fights. As good as Evans is, he looked bad against Ryan Bader, so I’ll say Glover wins this battle.
Performance of the Night
Jessica: Nurmagomedov, Dodson
Burnsy: Namajunas, Ponzinibbio
Fight of the Night
Jessica: Namajuas vs Torres
Burnsy: McGee vs Ponzinibbio
