One top 10 bantamweight will get back in the mix on Saturday, with Cory Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueiredo facing off in the UFC Des Moines main event.
Both men were coming off losses – Figueiredo, a former flyweight champ, to ex-135lb champ Petr Yan, and Sandhagen to recent bantamweight title challenger Umar Nurmagomedov. With champion Merab Dvalishvili facing Sean O’Malley in a questionable rematch next, the UFC Des Moines headliner was more about securing the next spot in line, with a big performance, or just inching closer to a title shot.
In the co-main event, Bo Nickal, a celebrated American wrestler, got another step up in competition against former ONE double-champ Reinier de Ridder. “The Dutch Knight” de Ridder was undefeated in his first two UFC fights, but Nickal remained undefeated in his career and was coming off a win over another high-level grappler in Scotland’s Paul Craig.
Our picks are in for the UFC’s debut in Des Moines, Iowa, which also features the return of Jeremy “Lil Heathen” Stephens. Read on to see how we feel the card plays out.
| Writer / Fight | Stephens vs. Jones | Smotherman vs. Sidey | Jackson vs. Marcos | Ponzinibbio vs. Rodriguez | de Ridder vs. Nickal | Sandhagen vs. Figueiredo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eddie Law (46-27) |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Alex Behunin (45-28) | | |  | |  |  |
| Patrick McCorry (41-26) | | | | | | |
| Brett Cagle (44-29) |  | | |  | | |
| Chris Prawdzik (37-24) | | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (42-31) | | | | | | |
| Mathis Desjardins (42-31) | | | | | | |
| Cade Morehouse (9-10) | |  | | | | |
While there were no unanimous selections this week, there were a couple of heavy favorites on the UFC Des Moines card with our team. Among them, Mason Jones, who like opponent Jeremy Stephens returns to the UFC in the main card-opening bout. Jones has won four straight under the Cage Warriors banner, while Stephens, nine years his senior, went 3-0 in BKFC to earn a return to the octagon. The X-factor might be that Stephens will be fighting at home in Des Moines, but our crew clearly don’t think that will be enough to give him the edge.
Cameron Smotherman is a huge favorite over Serhiy Sidey, while just one writer responding chose Reinier de Ridder to get past Bo Nickal, which might have something to do with Nickal’s performance against Paul Craig. And only two members of our team see Deiveson Figueiredo getting his hand raised over Cory Sandhagen in the UFC Des Moines main event.
