It’s a new year, a fresh start, and the UFC is finally back in action this Saturday following a three-week hiatus with UFC Vegas 101, headlined by a women’s strawweight rematch between Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas.
Five years or so ago, it was Ribas coming away with a decision win over the storied BJJ champion. Now, both ladies are looking to prove how much they have improved and how far they have come since that first encounter, early in both of their respective careers with the company.
In the UFC Vegas 101 co-main event, Santiago Ponzinibbio is paired up with Carlston Harris, with both welterweights hitting the odd speed bump of late.
New year, and a fresh start not just for the promotion and its fighters but our staff when it comes to picks. To we have what it takes to choose these fights correctly? We’ll find out, with our staff picks below.
| Writer / Fight | Soriano vs. Medic | Rodriguez vs. Bashi | Curtis vs. Kopylov | Almeida vs. Alhassan | Ponzinibbio vs. Harris | Dern vs. Ribas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jay Anderson |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Eddie Law | | | | | | |
| Alex Behunin | | | | | |  |
| Chris Prawdzik |  | | | | | |
| Patrick McCorry | | | | |  | |
| Dylan Napoleone | | | | | | |
| Brett Cagle | | |  | | | |
| Mathis Desjardins | | | | | | |
Not entirely surprising, featherweight prospect Austin Bashi was a popular pick among our team. A consensus pick, in fact, with all writers responding favoring him over Christian Rodriguez. To be fair to “CeeRod,” that may be doing him a disservice, as he’s upset top prospects before (read: Raul Rosas Jr. and Cameron Saaiman).
A bit more surprising, perhaps: Amanda Ribas did not get much love in the main event, with the majority of our crew picking Dern to get her revenge. In the co-main event, meanwhile, only two writers responding see Carlston Harris getting the win over Santiago Ponzinibbio.
In addition to Bashi, there was one other consensus pick on the UFC Vegas 101 card: Cesar Almeida. It seems no one sees Abdul Razak Alhassan getting the better of him in their middleweight fight.
