The UFC returns to action this weekend fresh off UFC 289 in Vancouver, which saw Chjarles Oliveira return to the win column, and Amanda Nunes retire off a win over Irene Aldana.
Overshadowed by Bellator 297 and even Friday night’s PFL 5 card, the latest dubious Apex offering from the UFC featured a main event composed of two middleweights trying to make a case for another shot at gold — both of whom might be considered a long shot as long as Israel Adesanya remains champion.
The best thing that could have happened for Marvin Vettori, who has been hanging in the top of the 185lb division for years now, was “The Last Stylebender” losing his title to Alex Pereira last year. After all, Vettori had already lost to Adesanya twice, once with gold on the line.
Unfortunately for “The Italian Dream,” Adesanya reclaimed his throne earlier this year, which puts Vettori back in the same quagmire he had previously been stuck in. Robert Whittaker vs. Dricus Du Plessis will almost certainly produce a title challenger, and the UFC always has the option of throwing a curve ball and just booking Khamzat Chimaev into a title fight.
A strong performance from either Vettori or Cannonier, who has also lost to Adesanya in a fight that didn’t leave anyone screaming rematch, could still move the winner closer to gold. More than likely, however, another fight or two will be required — or Adesanya either losing the belt or going off to try his hand at 205lbs again.
Our picks are in for the UFC Vegas 75 main card — here’s how we see things playing out Saturday night.
| Writer / Fight | Dalby vs. Salikhov | Torres vs. Motta | Sabatini vs. Almeida | Petrosyan vs. Duncan | Tsarukyan vs. Silva | Vettori vs. Cannonier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Val Dewar (61-35) |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Jamie Theodosi (64-37) | | | | | |  |
| Alex Behunin (62-39( | | | | | | |
| Chris Prawdzik (62-39) | | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (53-48) | |  | | | | |
| Dylan Rush (48-53) |  | |  | | | |
| Cade Morehouse (9-10) | | | |  | | |
| Eddie Law (44-49) | | | | | | |
There was but one unanimous selection among our writers for the UFC Vegas 75 card. Your lock of the night, if you will, is Armen Tsarukyan, who should really be fighting higher-ranked opponents, and would be were it not for a string of bad luck and fighters declining to throw down with him.
Christian Leroy Duncan and Lucas Almeida were awfully close in that regard, however, with only one of our writers picking against them. The main event was harder to call, with Marvin Vettori getting the edge. Only two writers sided against Muslim Salikhov in the main-card opener, meanwhile. That same scenario played out in Manuel Torres vs. Nikolas Motta as well, with just two fighters siding against Torres.
