A flyweight fight headlining a UFC event in 2023? Could it really be true?
Let’s not pretend that Kai Kara-France vs. Amir Albazi was the promotion’s first pick to top UFC Vegas 74 on Saturday night. That was actually Jack Hermansson vs. Brendan Allen. With that fight scrapped, however, the flyweights got the nod in a ridiculously rare occurrence despite the weight class having become one of the most entertaining divisions the promotion has had to offer over the past couple of years.
UFC Vegas 74 finds Kara-France returning for the first time in almost a year, looking to bounce back from a failed shot at interim gold when he fell to Brandon Moreno last July. Albazi, meanwhile, gets a big step up in profile and competition, but has yet to lose a fight in the UFC.
The six-fight main card is a late one, kicking off at 9PM ET. We’ve got our picks in — see below for how we feel UFC Vegas 74 plays out.
| Writer / Fight | Nurmagomedov vs. dos Santos | Silva vs. Souza | Elliott vs. Altamirano | Miller vs. Butler | Caceres vs. Pineda | Kara-France vs. Albazi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Behunin (55-31) |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Jamie Theodosi (54-32) | | |  | | | |
| Val Dewar (49-32) |  | | | |  | |
| Chris Prawdzik (51-35) | | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (45-41) | | | | | | |
| Eddie Law (40-46) | | | | | |  |
| Dylan Rush (40-46) | | | | | | |
| Cade Morehouse (0-5) | | | | | | |
Let’s get this one out of the way first: unless you’re putting money down and praying for an upset, picking a fighter in their short-notice debut against the man with the most fights in UFC history is downright foolhardy. Credit to Jesse Butler for stepping up on two days’ notice to fight Jim Miller, who is entering UFC fight #42. But not surprisingly, no one picked Butler for this one.
No one picked former Invicta FC flyweight champ Ketlen Souza either, which comes as a bit of a surprise given she definitely has a path to victory in her fight with Karine Silva.
Just one writer responding, meanwhile, sees Amir Albazi pulling off the upset against Kai Kara-France in the UFC Vegas 74 main event.
Just two writers see Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos getting the better of Abubakar Nurmagomedov in the main card opener, while the closest fights on the card according to our staff are Elliott vs. Altamirano and Caceres vs. Pineda.
