Both the men’s and women’s flyweight titles will be on the line at the top of UFC 255 and Cageside Press has its picks set.
| Staff Writers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Fortune (141-69) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Jay Anderson (138-72) | | | | | |
| Joe McDonagh (118-80) | |  | | | |
| Josh Evanoff (116-79) |  | | | | |
| Mike McClory (55-39) | | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (114-91) | | | | | |
| Dylan Bowker (103-83) | | |  | | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (116-94) | | | | | |
| Justin Gibbons (96-78) | | | | | |
| Doug Murray (1-2) | | | | | |
The headliner of UFC 255 is the men’s flyweight title fight and Deiveson Figueiredo’s first title defense. He technically won the title two fights ago, but missed weight in his first bout with Joseph Benavidez and was ineligible to win the title. He choked him out the second time around to win the title for real. He’ll be facing Alex Perez, who is replacing Cody Garbrandt. Perez has had a great UFC run, going 6-1 and is looking to become the first Contender Series alum to win a title. Figueiredo was unanimously picked.
Valentina Shevchenko looks to continue her dominance of the women’s flyweight division when she takes on Jennifer Maia. Shevchenko is 8-2 in the Octagon with the two losses coming against the greatest of all time, Amanda Nunes. She’s 5-0 since moving down to flyweight. Maia came to the UFC as the Invicta flyweight champion and is 3-2 since then, submitting top contender Joanne Calderwood in her last fight. Shevchenko was unanimously picked.
Mike Perry will look to get out of his slump against Tim Means. Perry, who was originally supposed to face Robbie Lawler, missed weight by nearly five pounds and has won two of his last five fights. Means has won two of his past three, with an impressive victory over Laureano Staropoli coming most recently. All but two writers picked Means.
Top flyweight contenders Katlyn Chookagian and Cynthia Calvillo will battle. Chookagian has already received her title shot in February, and lost to Jessica Andrade last time out. Calvillo has an impressive 6-1-1 record in the Octagon but has had some slip-ups with weight and a positive drug test. Calvillo was picked by six of 10 writers.
The UFC 255 main card will open with a rematch between Paul Craig and Shogun Rua. Shogun is on a surprisingly great run late in his career with a 5-1-1 record in his last seven fights and the one draw coming against Craig. Craig is 5-4-1 in the UFC with all five wins being submissions, a skillset hard to find at light heavyweight. Craig was picked by seven of 10 writers.
