The UFC continues its run of events at the Apex Center in Las Vegas with UFC on ESPN 11 and Cageside Press has its picks ready.
| Staff Writers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Fortune (55-20) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Keith Shillan (52-23) | | | |  | |
| Joe McDonagh (48-27) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (44-31) | | | | | |
| Mike McClory (24-17) | | | | | |
| Eddie Law (28-20) | | | | | |
| Ryan Jarrell (11-8) | | | | | |
| Justin Gibbons (22-17) | | |  | | |
| Josh Evanoff (42-33) | | | | | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (41-34) | | | | |  |
| Dylan Bowker (33-28) | | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (37-33) | | | | | |
The headlining fight of UFC on ESPN 11 is an intriguing heavyweight matchup between wrestler Curtis Blaydes and striker Alexander Volkov. Volkov, a former Bellator champion, is 5-1 in the UFC with the loss being a miracle last-second KO by Derrick Lewis. Blaydes has been hard to stop with nine wins in 11 UFC appearances, only losing to Francis Ngannou twice. All but one writer picked Blaydes.
The co-main event is an excellent featherweight scrap between Josh Emmett and Shane Burgos. Burgos is a solid 6-1 in the Octagon with the lone loss coming against top contender Calvin Kattar. Emmett is 6-2 and has knocked out his last two opponents. Burgos was picked by nine of 12 writers.
Raquel Pennington takes on Marion Reneau in a battle of top ten bantamweights. Pennington has struggled recently, going 1-3 in her last four, the first of which was a title shot. Reneau hasn’t fought in over a year and is on a two-fight skid. All but one writer picked Pennington.
It’s a matchup four years in the making as Belal Muhammad finally takes on Lyman Good. The pair was first matched up in 2016, then earlier this year with Good pulling out both times. Muhammad has established himself as a force in the time being, winning six of his last seven fights. Good has fought very infrequently with a 3-2 record since joining the UFC in 2015. Muhammad was unanimously picked.
Opening up the main card is an old school vs. new school battle between Jim Miller and Roosevelt Roberts. Miller has the most appearances in UFC history with 33. In comparison, that’s three times the amount of fights that Roberts has in his entire career. Miller is looking to bounce back after a two-fight win streak was snapped. Roberts is 4-1 in the Octagon since coming over from the Contender Series. Roberts was unanimously picked.
