This week’s Writer vs. Fighter features Cageside Press’ Justin Gibbons and UFC’s Nate Maness making their picks for UFC Vegas 26.
It’s that time again! Time for Writer vs Fighter where we get to see those who punch faces for a living go up against those who write about it in a battle for pick supremacy.
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
Josh Evanoff def. Cortney Casey (2-1) – UFC 259
Aiemann Zahabi def. Alex Behunin (5-0) – UFC Vegas 21
Sergio Pineiro def. Kai Kamaka III (7-0) – UFC Vegas 22
Gabriel Gonzalez def. Vince Morales (7-4) – UFC 260
Jordan Leavitt def. Rodney James Edgar (4-2) – UFC Vegas 23
Ryan Fortune def. Rani Yahya (7-3) – UFC Vegas 24
Dakota Bush def. Dylan Bowker (6-5) – UFC 261
Bryson Hester def. Arlene Blencowe (3-0) – UFC Vegas 25
And with the win from Hester last week, the Writers have drawn their lead to 7-5 with a single draw. They’ll look for one of their biggest leads yet with a win this week.
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.
On this week’s edition, Justin Gibbons looks to add to the lead for the Writers. Standing in his way is one of the hottest prospects in the UFC’s hottest division, Nate Maness. Let’s see what their picks look like.
As you can see, no ground is going to be made up during the top 3 fights of the night. Each of our combatants agree entirely at the top of the card. Both like Marina Rodriguez in her bout with Michelle Waterson. Both also think Cowboy turns back the clock a bit and holds off Alex Morono. And neither is all that worried about Geoff Neal in his bout with Neil Magny.
Where the real decision will likely be made is a strawweight bout between Angela Hill and Amanda Ribas. Maness has locked Ribas in as his most sure pick, whereas Gibbons is going for the underdog Hill in his underdog slot. There will be a 5pt swing in that fight alone. Of course, some ground can be made up with the other picks. Maness will ride with Mike Trizano as his underdog and Gibbons with Gregor Gillespie as his lock.
May the best writer/fighter win! We’ll have the results up after the conclusion of UFC Vegas 26!
Results:
