It’s that time again, for us to pit those who scribe with those who punch in a match-up (of picks, we’re not insane!). Last week saw Cageside Press founder Mike McClory get one back for the writers when he bested the UFC’s Orion Cosce. This week, we determine if the pen beats the iron as Cortney Casey steps up for the fighters.
Here’s how each week has gone so far:
Joe McDonagh def. Randy Costa (3-2) – Fight Island 7
Doug Murray def. Bryan Barberena (2-1) – Fight Island 8
Shawn Bitter DRAW Mike Rodriguez (1-1) – UFC 257
Dalton Rosta def. Jay Anderson (7-2) – UFC Vegas 18
Austin Arnett def. Heath Harshman (2-1) – UFC 258
Sam Hughes def. Gumby Vreeland (3-0) – UFC Vegas 19
Mike McClory def. Orion Cosce (5-2) – UFC Vegas 20
After seven events, we’re all tied up at three a piece with one fight going to draw.
Here’s how it works: both writer and fighter must pick the winner of the main event, co-main event, and featured main card bout. A correct pick will earn one point. Both must then pick a “lock” — the fighter they are most sure will win their fight — from the entire card. That’s two points. The “dog” comes next, and a correct underdog pick earns three points.
It’s that simple. Five picks: Main, co-main, and featured fight winners, lock, and underdog. To the winner go the spoils. Not actual spoils, but bragging rights anyway.
This week, the writers have called upon Josh Evanoff on the biggest stage of the year. He’ll look to gain their advantage back against flyweight Cortney “Cast Iron” Casey. Here’s where they see eye-to-eye and here’s where the differ.
In each of the top two fights, the combatants agree. Both are going with the favorites Amanda Nunes and Israel Adesanya as they look to add to their incredible legacies. However, in our third title fight, Evanoff is taking the challenger Aljaimain Sterling to take the belt away. Meanwhile, Casey believes it’s going to be #AndStill.
More similarities kick around with the dogs and locks. Evanoff locked in Casey Kenney as his surefire win this week, whereas Casey also likes him, but stashed him in her dog spot (the odds have flip-flopped a bit on this match-up, with some sites favoring Kenney and others Cruz). If Kenney were to win, both would pick up points with Casey just snagging a bit of an edge.
To close out the picks, Evanoff rides with oft title challenger Joseph Benavidez as his dog. Benavidez faces off with Askar Askarov on the prelims. Meanwhile, Casey is going with training partner Mario Bautista as her lock when he squares off with Trevin Jones.
May the best writer/fighter win! We’ll have the results up after the event!
Results: A rough night for both writer and fighter, with few points awarded. No one’s dog or lock came through on Saturday. Both Casey and Josh took Amanda Nunes to win, with each earning a point. Both took Israel Adesanya, so both were shut out in the main event. It all came down to the Yan vs. Sterling fight, which Sterling won by DQ — giving Josh the edge! Not by much, as it was a 2-1 score.
