The UFC touches down in Perth for the first time with UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold, and our picks are in!
UFC 221 can honestly be described as one of those cards that “could turn out to surprise you.” In other words, the main card is a little thin on paper. That’s in part a result of Robert Whittaker, the newly promoted UFC middleweight champion, being forced out of the event due to injury, including a nasty staph infection.
Stepping in to take his place, with interim 185lb gold on the line, is Yoel Romero. Romero happens to be the man last defeated by Whittaker, so there’s a bit of musical chairs going on here.
Elsewhere on the UFC 221 card, the co-main event promises fireworks when a couple of heavy hitters go to war. Mark Hunt, seemingly ageless at 43 and still kicking (and punching), takes on Curtis Blaydes. Hunt is ranked fifth in the UFC’s official rankings, while Blaydes comes in at ninth.
Our picks are in — lets see who our staff writers sided with!
| Staff Writers | Pedro vs. Safarov | Matthews vs. Jingliang | Tuivasa vs. Asker | Hunt vs. Blaydes | Rockhold vs. Romero |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heath Harshman (14-8) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Paarth Pande (14-8) | | | |  |  |
| Eddie Law (14-8) | | | | | |
| Jesse Gillete (14-8) | | | | | |
| Mike Straus (13-9) | | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (12-10) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (12-10) | | | | | |
| Mike McClory (11-11) |  | | | | |
| Jason Payne (9-13) | | | | | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (9-13) | | | | | |
Right out of the gate, there are two obvious standouts. Our staff picked both Tai Tuivasa and Li Jingliang unanimously to have their hand raised at UFC 221. In the case of Tuivasa, a fresh heavyweight in an aging division who made a big impression in his debut last year (hello, flying knee!), that’s not surprising. In the case of ‘The Leech,’ however, well the unanimous nod to Jingliang is a bit of an eye-opener. Unlike Tuivasa, he’s in enemy territory against Jake Matthews. Still, all ten writers responding seeing the fight going in the Chinese welterweight’s favor.
In the card’s opening bout, just three of our writers chose Saparbek Safarov to get the nod in his light heavyweight bout with Tyson Pedro. Pedro suffered a loss against Ilir Latifi in his last trip to the octagon, but the majority feel he’s ready to bounce back.
The co-main event was a little more split, but perhaps surprisingly, it was in the favor of Curtis Blaydes. While he hasn’t lost since his UFC debut against Francis Ngannou, Hunt represents his biggest challenge since then. The battle-tested war horse, Hunt, has four of our writers in his corner. The other six sided with Blaydes.
In the main event, meanwhile, the majority have picked former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold to win interim gold. Eight of our writers chose the former Strikeforce champ, while just two sided with Yoel Romero.
