UFC 238 brings fans a stacked card with two title fights and potentially four number-one contender bouts, and Cageside Press has their picks set.
| Staff Writers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Payne (85-38) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Drake Riggs (85-38) |  |  | | |  |
| Joe McDonagh (85-38) | | |  | | |
| Heath Harshman (82-41) | | | | | |
| Steve King (78-39) | | | |  | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (77-46) | | | | | |
| Paarth Pande (76-47) | | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (75-48) | | | | | |
| Josh Evanoff (75-48) | | | | | |
| Mike Straus (75-48) | | | | | |
| Keith Shillan (39-25) | | | | | |
| Mike McClory (48-31) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (74-49) | | | | | |
| Ryan Fortune (38-26) | | | | | |
| Shawn Bitter (73-50) | | | | | |
| Eddie Law (57-44) | | | | | |
| Marcus Rebelo (2-3) | | | | | |
The UFC 238 main event will result in the bantamweight title no longer being vacant with flyweight champion Henry Cejudo and Marlon Moraes vying for gold. Cejudo has been on an incredible run, defeating pound-for-pound great Demetrious Johnson and bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw in his last two bouts. Moraes is riding a path of destruction to the title with brutal knockouts against Aljamain Sterling and Jimmie Rivera and a submission victory over Raphael Assuncao. 10 of 16 writers picked Marlon Moraes.
Valentina Shevchenko looks to defend her flyweight title for the first time against Jessica Eye in the co-main event. The former bantamweight title contender won the 125 belt in her last fight against former strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk. After going 1-5 at bantamweight in the UFC, Eye has turned her career around, winning three straight since dropping to flyweight to earn a title shot. All but two writers picked Shevchenko.
“The People’s Main Event” is a three-round bout between Tony Ferguson and Donald Cerrone. Ferguson won a Fight of the Year candidate in October, but had to push through some personal issues since then. He rides an 11-fight win streak into UFC 238. Cerrone looks like his old self recently, finishing Mike Perry and Alex Hernandez and dominating Al Iaquinta since becoming a father. Cageside Press is split at eight picks apiece for this one.
Petr Yan will look to have his coming out party against Jimmie Rivera. Yan is a former ACA champion with an 11-1 record and is 4-0 in the UFC. Prior to losing two of his last three to top contenders Aljamain Sterling and Marlon Moraes, Rivera was an incredible 21-1 in his career. 12 of 16 writers picked the Russian.
Heavyweights open up the UFC 238 main card as Tai Tuivasa faces Blagoy Ivanov. Tuivasa started his career at 8-0 before falling in his last fight to Junior dos Santos. Ivanov, a former world champion of sambo, was the WSOF/PFL champion when he joined the UFC last year. He is 1-1 and coming off a win over Ben Rothwell. 10 of 16 writers sided with Tuivasa.
