UFC Sacramento brings us the return of a legend and a number-one contender fight, and Cageside Press has their picks set.
| Staff Writers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Payne (108-44) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Joe McDonagh (99-45) | | | |  | |
| Heath Harshman (102-50) |  | | | | |
| Keith Shillan (60-33) | | | | | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (97-55) | | | | | |
| Ryan Fortune (58-35) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (95-57) | | |  | | |
| Dan Doherty (94-58) | | | | | |
| Paarth Pande (93-59) | | | | |  |
| Josh Evanoff (93-59) | | | | | |
| Davidson Baker (28-19) | | | | | |
| Eddie Law (71-53) | | | | | |
The main event of UFC Sacramento pits former champion Germaine de Randamie against undefeated up-and-comer Aspen Ladd. De Randamie is a Muay Thai specialist riding a four-fight win streak into this contest. Ladd is undefeated at 8-0 with three wins in the Octagon. Nine of 12 writers picked GDR.
The co-main event marks the return of Uriah Faber to the cage after a near three-year retirement. His last fight was also in Sacramento and was a win over Brad Pickett. He’ll be facing Ricky Simon, who is 15-1 and has won eight straight fights, three of which were in the UFC. All but three writers picked Simon.
Featherweight contenders Mirsad Bektic and Josh Emmett will battle. Bektic is a top featherweight prospect and is on a two-fight win streak after defeating Ricardo Lamas. Emmett rebounded from a KO loss to Jeremy Stephens with a come-from-behind last-minute knockout against Michael Johnson. All but one writer picked Bektic.
Karl Roberson welcomes Wellington Turman to the UFC on short notice. Roberson is 1-2 in the Octagon but nearly finished Glover Teixeira in his last fight before getting submitted. Turman is a 15-2 Brazilian with a four-fight win streak and has won seven of his last eight fights. Roberson was unanimously picked.
Marvin Vettori returns from his brief suspension against Cezar Ferreira. Vettori is an Italian middleweight with a 2-2-1 record in the UFC and has not fought since a close split decision loss to Israel Adesanya in April 2018. Ferreira is a TUF Brazil winner with a 9-5 record in the Octagon and victories over Jack Hermansson and Karl Roberson. He’ll be looking to bounce back from a loss to top prospect Ian Heinisch. This was the closest fight on the main card, with seven writers picking Vettori and five going with Ferreira.
