After six straight weeks at venues not named “UFC Apex,” the Octagon returned home on Saturday, with the heavyweight main event headlining UFC Vegas 71.
The Fight Night card finds Russian heavyweight Sergey Pavlovich, the No. 3 seed in the division, paired with No. 4 seed Curtis “Razor” Blades.
While things still have to play out between heavyweight champion Jon Jones and expected opponent (and former champion) Stipe Miocic, the Pavlovic vs. Blades winner was widely expected to be a lock as the next contender for the title – depending on how long It may take so long to wait.
Our picks at UFC Vegas 71 – here’s how we see the card go down.
First, the night lock. Bobby Green appeared at UFC Vegas Media Day 71 carrying an impressive $60,000 in cash, which our staff believes is about to be paid. All of the responding writers picked Green for the win in his light showdown in Jared “Flash” Gordon. Likewise, our crew sees Brad Tavares get the nod in the middleweight co-main event against Bruno Silva, with one writer to dissent.
However, Matthew Simmelsberger was a bit of an underdog against Jeremiah Wells. Such was the main event for heavyweight Sergei Pavlovich, that only two writers responded by giving a nod to the heavyweight Russian, despite his stops against Derrick Lewis and Ty Toivasa.
The toughest fight on the card was the scrap between Brogan Walker and Iasmin Lucindo. That fight has us split down the line, or as close as we can get with an odd number of writers – it’s 4-3 in Lucindo’s favour.