A fiery lightweight matchup between Paul Felder and Dan Hooker headlines UFC Auckland and Cageside Press has its picks set.
| Staff Writers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe McDonagh (20-6) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Ryan Fortune (19-7) |  |  | |  |  |
| Shawn Bitter (15-6) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (18-8) | | | | | |
| Heath Harshman (17-9) | | | | | |
| Jason Payne (17-9) | | | | | |
| Keith Shillan (16-10) | | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (15-11) | | | | | |
| Dylan Bowker (14-12) | | |  | | |
| Josh Evanoff (14-12) | | | | | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (14-12) | | | | | |
Dan Hooker and Paul Felder have both been firing on all cylinders and will be headlining UFC Auckland as a result. Felder has won five of his last six while Hooker has won six of seven since moving up to lightweight. However, Felder’s lone loss in that stretch came at welterweight. Seven of 11 writers picked Felder.
The co-main event is a light heavyweight scrap between Jimmy Crute and Michal Oleksiejczuk. Crute got off to a solid start in his UFC career, submitting Paul Craig and knocking out Sam Alvey before falling to Misha Cirkunov. Oleksiejczuk was 3-0 in the Octagon (one of those wins overturned due to a drug test failure) before falling victim to the dreaded Von Preux choke last time out. Oleksiejczuk was slightly favored, six picks to five.
Karolina Kowalkiewicz looks to stop her dramatic skid against Yan Xiaonan. Kowalkiewicz, a former title contender, has lost three straight fights, and they haven’t been particularly close. Xiaonan is 4-0 in the Octagon with a win over Angela Hill. All but two writers picked Xiaonan.
Ben Sosoli takes on Marcos Rogerio de Lima in a home fight. Sosoli had a no contest in his Contender Series appearance due to an eye poke, then a no contest in his promotional debut after Greg Hardy used an inhaler during the fight. De Lima is 1-1 after moving to heavyweight, falling to Stefan Struve last time out.
Opening up the UFC Auckland main card will be Magomed Mustafaev and Brad Riddell. Mustafaev is 3-1 in the Octagon with three stoppages and the one loss coming to Kevin Lee. Riddell is coming off a successful debut in October in Australia. Eight of 11 writers selected Mustafaev to win in enemy territory.
