I have been a major supporter of William Gomis during his current run through the UFC. He has displayed outstanding defensive layers as well as intelligent counters and offensive attacks. 

Ruchala is someone who can throw heavy leather often but he leaves himself extremely open to counters, and this is not a new kind of opponent for Gomis, he is coming off a loss against Hyder Amil, but Amil that fight took place in the Apex cage, a much smaller sized cage than this weekends normal sized one, and that plays massively into Gomis’ advantage here because he can move laterally more freely, he can set up counters without having to worry about where the cage fence is.

Gomis, much like Imavov, is very well rounded and has the ability to fight well on the feet and on the ground, but his primary advantage would be his mobility, he can move and reset at angles that forces his opponent to adjust to which gives Gomis the advantage to propel himself forward for an offensive attack, or he can set up traps like that brilliant knee up the middle which is always timed well when he fights, and given that Ruchala often leaves his torso open to be struck, that perhaps further incentivizes Gomis to attack the body and sap the cardio of Ruchala. 

Gomis is someone whom I have very high hopes for, and whilst he is likely to fight on the back foot, he at least has the cardio advantage here as well as the fact that the cage is much larger for him to navigate around and set up his attacks more efficiently.

This is a fascinating match-up with a huge clash of styles between a very explosive kickboxer and a highly talented grappler with solid guard submissions under his belt. 

Bukauskas is one of the highlight fighters for me this weekend, purely because he has looked substantially better than he did in his previous UFC run. He looks a lot calmer on his feet, a lot more defensively sound, and much quicker with his strikes and combinations.

I do think that he has an astronomical striking advantage purely because Craig is not known for his striking, but also because his entire career has been built around his ability to land that head kick and overwhelm his opponent's defenses with short, lightning-fast combinations that come from varied angles.

I also think that Craig’s striking defence leaves a lot to the imagination. He has always been known for his inability to deal with strikers properly on the feet, and his route to victory is rather risky because he needs to take the fight to the ground to win.

His ability to wrestle doesn’t hold up well compared to his ability to grapple and find submissions, he suffers from the same thing that Mackenzie Dern suffers from, where he has the tools to get it done, but just can’t force the fight to be in a position to use his tools effectively, which further leaves me to believing that Bukauskas’s strikes on the feet will be more than enough of a deterrent for Craig to enter and try and grapple. 

So, yeah, simply put, Bukauskas via KO is the only read here that makes sense. He’s dangerous on the feet and has that gorgeous head kick that I’m keeping my eye on this weekend!

This is a fantastic bout between one of UFC’s standout Parisian fighters and an up-and-comer who has displayed outrageously gorgeous striking and fluidity on the feet. 

There are a few reasons why I’m taking Ruffy Moneyline here, and whilst Saint-Denis does present some unique challenges that Ruffy has yet to face, I do believe we’re going to see sheer dominance on the feet from the tactical Fighting Nerds fighter who has a wide range of skills and techniques that he can rely on, I mean, that spinning wheel kick KO against King Green back in UFC 313 is still one of the best knockouts of the last decade! 

This bet recommendation is further reinforced by the fact that Saint-Denis is accustomed to being struck in the face repeatedly. He is someone who is more likely to eat shots and keep marching forward than he is to defend accordingly and fight in a safe manner. His imposing presence could be a problem for Ruffy if Ruffy is on the defensive and on the retreat.

Ultimately I do think we’re going to see Saint-Denis absorb a lot more shots than Ruffy does, and I just don’t think Saint-Denis is going to survive very long if he keeps getting cracked to the chin by Ruffy’s exceptionally well timed, low volume strikes, and the nature of the low volume output of Ruffy plays into his favour because in order for anyone to get a read on Ruffy’s strikes, he has to strike, but he doesn’t throw a lot out there for his opponents to get a read on, so everything he does comes at a surprise. 

Ruffy should walk away from this the victor; it wouldn’t surprise me if he managed to get a knockout early on in the fight, too!

This is a fight between two highly talented and very well-rounded Middleweights who are likely to, for the most part, cancel each other out on the feet and on the ground, but there are a few interesting things about this fight that I do want to highlight.

Imavov’s primary advantage in this fight isn’t his striking or his wrestling; it’s his movement. He is someone who uses the Octagon to his advantage. He is very, very likely to stick and move early on in the fight, typically using his very sharp teep kick to the body to just prod at Borralho before circling around for another opportunity to attack; his mobility is his delivery system for success; the more he is freely moving around the cage, the better his chances of winning this fight are.

With that said, he has shown one main vulnerability that Borralho can potentially exploit early, and that’s the leg kick defence. If Borralho attacks the legs early, it equalises the playing field a lot more because it effectively bursts the tyres of Imavov, and if Borralho shuts down that mobility, his chances to land his own combinations on the feet improve substantially.

With that said, though, both fighters are exceptionally high level; they both have the incredible ability to adapt to their opponents as the rounds go by, and they both have the cardio to both push a relatively high pace but also keep defensively sound enough to not get finished. I do not expect many moments in which a fighter is close to getting a finish or being finished themselves. It’s going to be a very competitive fight in which we will see someone's hands raised and a scorecard readout after 5 rounds of action!