We’re back for a rematch between two fighters who survived all 5 rounds against each other due to both fighters somewhat negating each other effectively on the feet, but neither fighter did too much to retain our interest because boy was that fight a nail-biter for only 2 rounds, then it kind of dwindled off a little bit.

I expect a fairly similar fight this weekend, both fighters clearly would have done their homework, made some adjustments and for sure they both now have a little bit of an incentive to actually start some action, but since both Ankalaev and Pereira are quite defensively sound and have the propensity to take their time and not do anything recklessly, I do expect a bulk of this fight to be a tit for tat fight with intermittent chaos and explosiveness from both fighters as they try to penetrate each others defences and get their gameplan going.

To reinforce this bet, I want to turn your attention to Alex Pereira and his performance against Ankalaev during their first bout. Pereira’s takedown defence was switched on, and he was not going to make it easy for Ankalaev to secure takedowns. Given that Ankalaev’s wrestling was his path of least resistance in that bout, it was pretty great to see that Pereira’s diligent work in improving his takedown defence has paid off. Now, given that the fight took place a year ago, I do believe that both fighters have polished off the roughness.

They’re both going to fight a lot more competitively. However, I still do not suspect a finish as Pereira’s kickboxing background will allow him to gauge range and keep Ankalaev at bay, away from takedown range. Ankalaev’s well-roundedness and veteran status in the Octagon will allow him to just wait for that perfect moment to attack, or set up a multi-layered takedown that perhaps Pereira won’t be ready for.

Now, this is a 5-round fight that very much favours Dvalishvili here because he does live up to his namesake “The Machine”, he is someone who has effectively weaponized his cardio and who has broken through barriers in the UFC ever since becoming a champion. From his numerous decision wins in which he just pressed on the gas for 15 to 25 minutes, to his submission win over Sean O’Malley, Merab Dvalishvili is an enigma in a 5 round fight.

Now, Sandhagen has been in some phenomenal 5 round fights before, and against really tough names too such as Umar Nurmagomedov and Petr Yan, he is accustomed to high intensity fights that lead to the final horn, he has fantastic cardio and the ability to adapt and change his style on the fly depending on what his opponent does, but in this particular fight, I do think he’s likely to stay on the defensive here, not due to choice but due to just circumstance because Dvalishvili will absolutely refuse to allow Sandhagen to breathe freely.

The Georgian is going to wrap his arms around the body or waist of Sandhagen and drag him down multiple times within the first round, and even if Sandhagen can get back up, he’ll be unable to get any offense going since he’ll be too busy defending takedowns.

Even if Dvalishvili does not attack the takedowns as often as we’re accustomed to seeing him do, we’re going to see Sandhagen's hands low in a “down block” position, ready to stuff the takedowns and just dig the underhooks to mitigate the grip of Dvalishvili. What that hands low stance does can be beneficial for Sandhagen as it means it can mask the angle of strikes, but it also generally just means that he himself will be open to flurries from Dvalishvili, all whilst being on the slight retreat in order to gain distance from The Machine.

At the end of the fight, I do expect Dvalishvili’s hands to be raised once again as he dominates another contender in a 5 round fight.

This one is certainly going to have a fair few eyes on it due to the fact that Emmett is fairly capable of obliterating his opponent with one beautifully timed overhand right, but for as much as we want to see a finish here, I think it’s much more likely that we’re going to see Zalal glide to the decision win here.

See, Zalal has been on a tear during his second stint in the UFC, winning three times in a row via submission, then much recently a decision win against New England Cartel fighter Calvin Kattar, and what we’re going to notice straight off the bat is that Zalal is much quicker, much sharper and more diverse on the feet compared to the rather aged Emmett.

This isn’t to say that Emmett doesn’t present any threat because that overhand right will always be on the mind of Zalal, but as long as Zalal can stick and move, slowly damage the abdomen and legs of Emmett, that power of Emmett will no longer be a major threat, and as the rounds go by, the more separation in activity and volume stats we’ll begin to see.

I truly expect to see Zalal win on the scorecards, he’s just a different fighter to deal with now, he’s tricky to deal with and considering that the threat from Emmett is somewhat one dimensional and quite readable (as Emmett always has his right hand pulled back, ready to fire), I think Zalal is going to come into this fight with a fairly good gameplan and completely run circles around Emmett.

Pyfer versus Magomedov is a perfect clash of striking styles, and it’s a rather fascinating one to think about. On one hand, Pyfer has accomplished incredible things during his UFC career so far, his recent fight against Kelvin Gastelum confirmed that he has some ridiculous punching power, and as we all know, and are constantly reminded by Michael Bisping in the commentary booth, power is the great equaliser, and we’re going to see that power from Pyfer be on full display when he fights a rather scrappy but quite hittable Magomedov.

The only direct danger from Magomedov that Pyfer needs to be concerned about is the speed and variance of attack, as Magomedov is quite light on the feet and does switch target quite often, but I do believe that due to Pyfer’s power and incredible forward pressure he will likely shut down a lot of the offensive output that Magomedov utilises when he fights.

Historically we have seen Magomedov slow down substantially after the first half of the fight, so expect a further slow down or decrease in output from Magomedov as the minutes tick by.

Pyfer is rightfully the favourite here, I think his power is going to be on full display, and even if not, it will be used as a tool instead of a weapon to control the Octagon and keep Magomedov on the back foot.