At one point in 2023, the UFC had three Mexican champs on their roster — yet somehow, they managed to forgo a trip to Mexico city until this weekend, with UFC Mexico City finally arriving— and only one champ remaining.
That one champion left standing for Mexico is Alexa Grasso, who will not be in action on Saturday’s card. Instead, two former Mexican champs, Brandon Moreno (flyweight) and Yair Rodriguez (interim featherweight) will be. Still not a bad one-two punch for a Fight Night card, but as with Africa, the UFC has failed to strike when the iron was hot.
That shouldn’t really matter come Saturday however. A strong contingent of Mexican talent will enter the CDMX Arena in Mexico City, with Daniel Zellhuber, Manuel Torres, Raul Rosas Jr. and others in action. As for the main event, Brandon Royval stepped up to replace Amir Albazi in the headliner against Moreno, making this a rematch of their 2020 showdown, which Brandon Moreno won via TKO.
Our picks for UFC Mexico City are in — read on to see how we see the main card unfolding.
| Writer / Fight | Torres vs. Duncan | Jauregui vs. Hughes | Rosas Jr. vs. Turcios | Zellhuber vs. Prado | Rodriguez vs. Ortega | Moreno vs. Royval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Behunin (17-9) |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Jay Anderson (16-10) | | | | |  | |
| Chris Prawdzik (15-11) |  | | | | | |
| Cade Morehouse (11-9) | |  | | | | |
| Jamie Theodosi (14-12) | | | | | | |
| Eddie Law (13-12) | | | | | | |
| Patrick McCorry (11-15) | | | | | | |
| Val Dewar (9-11) | | | | | | |
| Dylan Napoleone (3-2) | | | | | | |
There were three clean sweeps on Saturday’s UFC Mexico City card when it came to our staff picks. All nine writers responding have Brandon Moreno, Raul Rosas Jr., and Daniel Zellhuber winning their fights — and it’s no surprise given how strong the Mexican line-up is for this card.
Things were close to unanimous for Yazmin Jauregui vs. Sam Hughes, with only a single writer siding with Hughes. As for the co-main event, Rodriguez vs. Ortega, that was much closer, with Yair Rodriguez favored.
