Easily one of the biggest UFC events of the year, UFC 299 arrives on Saturday in Miami, Florida with a bantamweight card headlining the show and an absolutely stacked undercard supporting it.
The UFC pulled out all the stops in building this event, which is clear once you realize that the always entertaining “Demolidor,” Michel Pereira, has been relegated to the Fight Pass prelims. Same with Joanne Wood, the ever-popular Scottish veteran, in her retirement fight against Maryna Moroz. The first fight of the evening, that one’s a rematch, much like the night’s final showdown, the return engagement between 135lb champ Sean O’Malley and Marlon “Chito” Vera.
Those upset over O’Malley supposedly hand-picking the opponent for his first title defense (Vera is the lone loss on O’Malley’s record, a TKO that came following the “Suga Show” fighter injuring his leg) were drowned out during Fight Week by ardent Vera supporters. The turnout was so grand for the Ecuadorian fighter that in a novel twist, he was required to attend two media day sessions: one in English, and a second in Spanish based on the huge media turnout alone. The Chito Vera cheering section was also in full force at the Kaseya Center on Thursday, complete with flags and Chito masks.
Of course, support doesn’t equate success, and Vera still has a tough fight on his hands in the rematch with O’Malley. Can he pull it off? Our picks are in for the UFC 299 main card; see who we’re siding with below.
| Writer / Fight | Yan vs. Song | Burns vs. JDM | Holland vs. MVP | Poirier vs. BSD | O'Malley vs. Vera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jay Anderson |  |  |  |  |  |
| Alex Behunin | |  | | | |
| Jamie Theodosi |  | | |  | |
| Chris Prawdzik | | | | | |
| Val Dewar | | | | | |
| Dylan Rush | | | | | |
| Eddie Law | | | | | |
| Cade Morehouse | | | | | |
| Patrick McCorry | | | | |  |
Right off the bat, one fight stands out, and that’s Kevin Holland vs. Michael “Venom” Page. “MVP” arrives in the UFC as one of the hottest free agents in years, but at 36, it seems our crew has its doubts about the former Bellator star. This fight is probably closer than our picks make it appear, however.
The main event turned out to be awfully one-sided as well, with just a single writer responding selecting Chito Vera to pull off the win in Miami. He certainly had the crowd support all Fight Week long, he just doesn’t seem to have our support. Are we reading too much into that first fight, which ended with O’Malley limping (and refusing to recognize the loss)?
Only three members of our team see France’s Benoit Saint-Denis getting past Dustin Poirier, while that same margin favors Jack Della Maddalena over Gilbert Burns. The closest fight on the UFC 299 card in our eyes in Petr Yan vs. Song Yadong; Yan has a slight 5-4 edge in that one.
