A Fight Night show outside of the Apex but still hosted in Las Vegas? That was the scene Saturday, as the UFC set up shop at The Theater at Virgin Hotels while the Apex was busy hosting the Dana White’s Power Slap finale instead.
So as not to conflict with the aforementioned spectacle, UFC Las Vegas was set to kick off early, with a 6PM ET start time for the main card.
Topping the affair, something of a grudge match between former bantamweight champion Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili. Russia versus Georgia, with all the political undertones that brought with it, plus dislike of Yan on Merab’s part because of the former’s rivalry with Dvalishvili’s teammate Aljamain Sterling.
UFC Las Vegas was also the landing point for the lost UFC Vegas 70 main event of Ryan Spann vs. Nikita Krylov, while heavyweights Alexandr Romanov and Alexander Volkov collided in the co-main event.
Our picks are in — here’s who we see coming out on top this Saturday night at UFC Las Vegas.
| Writer | Petrino vs. Turkalj | Nurmagomedov vs. Martinez | Krylov vs. Spann | Volkov vs. Romanov | Yan vs. Dvalishvili |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Val Dewar (23-9) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Chris Prawdzik (22-10) | | |  | |  |
| Alex Behunin (21-11) | | | | | |
| Jamie Theodosi (21-11) |  |  | | | |
| Eddie Law (19-13) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (17-15) | | | | | |
| Dylan Rush (15-17) | | | |  | |
Despite Petr Yan’s insistence that “nobody cares” about Merab Dvalishvili, our staff members responding gave “The Machine” a slight edge over the former champ, 4-3. That was the closest fight on the card, as both Alexander Volkov and Ryan Spann came in as heavy favorites in their fights against Alexandr Romanov and Nikita Krylov.
All but a single write chose in favor of Volkov and Spann in those match-ups.
Jonathan Martinez had just two writers siding with him in his fight against Said Nurmagomedov; the same number had Vitor Petrino’s back against Anton Turkalj.
