The UFC returned to Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday, touching down in the Spectrum Center for a Fight Night card topped by heavyweights Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Jailton Almeida.
The UFC Charlotte card (UFC on ABC 4, as the main card was set to air on broadcast network ABC) had originally been topped by light heavyweight action, with Anthony Smith, a former title challenger, taking on the resurgent Johnny Walker.
That fight was still on the card, as a three-round co-main event. The rest of the ABC line-up saw Carlos Ulberg up against Ihor Potieria at 205lbs, hot prospect Ian Garry taking on Daniel Rodriguez in welterweight action, and another welterweight scrap set to kick off the main card in Tim Means vs. Alex Morono.
Our picks are in, and it’s an interesting one!
| Writer / Fight | Means vs. Morono | Ulberg vs. Potieria | Rodriguez vs. Garry | Smith vs. Walker | Rozenstruik vs. Almeida |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Behunin (47-29) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Jamie Theodosi (46-30) | | | |  | |
| Val Dewar (45-31) | | |  | | |
| Chris Prawdzik (44-32) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (38-38) | | | | | |
| Jason Payne (9-9) | | | | | |
| Dylan Rush (37-39) | | | | |  |
| Eddie Law (33-43) | | | | | |
If one thing can be said about UFC Charlotte and our staff, it’s that we’re either extremely confident, or split down the middle.
Two fighters had clean sweeps among the eight writers responding this week. Those are Alex Morono, with not a single member of our staff seeing him losing to veteran Tim Means, and Carlos Ulberg. Every writer sided with Ulberg in his light heavyweight fight with Ukraine’s Ihor Potieria.
In the main event, all but one fighter sided with Jailton Almeida. Despite still being a rookie essentially and in his first UFC main event, it’s a 7-1 split.
Two fights had our staff split down the middle however. Four writers a piece chose Ian Garry and Daniel Rodriguez, despite “The Future” being perfect thus far in his fighting career. And the co-main event between Johnny Walker and Anthony Smith was a 4-4 split as well.
When we’re confident, we’re confident!
