The UFC returned to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, landing the Spectrum Center for a Fight Night card topped by heavyweights Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Jailton Almeida.
UFC Charlotte (UFC on ABC 4, as the main card is set to air on the ABC broadcast network) originally headlined the light heavyweight move, with former title challenger Anthony Smith, with Johnnie Walker returning.
This fight was still on the card, as a three-round co-main event. The rest of ABC’s lineup saw Carlos Olberg take on 205-pound Ihor Putería, potentially Ian Jarry take on welterweight Daniel Rodriguez, and another welterweight junk set to start the main card in Tim Means vs. Alex Morono.
Our picks are in, and they’re interesting!
If one thing can be said about UFC Charlotte and our staff, it’s that we’re either overconfident or split down the middle.
Two fighters made a clean sweep among the eight writers who responded this week. This is Alex Morono, as no one on our staff has seen him lose to veterans Tim Means and Carlos Ullberg. Every writer has sided with Ullberg in his light heavyweight fight with Ukraine’s Ihor Butyria.
In the main event, all but one of the fighters sided with Gilton Almeida. Despite still being primarily a rookie and in his first major event in the UFC, the split was 7-1.
Two battles split our staff in the middle. Four writers singled out Ian Garry and Daniel Rodriguez, although “Future” has been perfect so far in his fight career. The joint main event between Johnnie Walker and Anthony Smith was a 4-4 split as well.
When we are confident, we are confident!