UFC Fight Night 170 - UFC Brasilia Breakdown & Predictions
When is UFC Fight Night 170? Saturday 14th March, 2020 - 22:00 start (UK)
Where is UFC Fight Night 170? Ginasio Nilson Nelson, Brasilia, Brazil
What channel is UFC Fight Night 170 on? BT Sport 2
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night 170? BT Sport subscribers can stream the fight online via the BT Sport website
For viewers in the United States, the event will be shown live on ESPN+ which can you sign up to here!
Are tickets still available for UFC Fight Night 170? https://www.ufc.com/tickets
Kevin Lee vs Charles Oliveira
Kevin Lee looks to restart a rampage at lightweight and takes on a man who is on his own six-fight rampage in Charles Oliveira which shapes a quality main event in Brasilia.
Lee flies out into enemy territory rejuvenated after moving back down to lightweight and training with Firas Zahabi at Tristar gym. After struggling with the weight cut and the death of his former coach, Lee lost three out of four – getting submitted by Tony Ferguson, losing a decision to Al Iaquinta and suffering another submission to Rafael dos Anjos at welterweight. However, he announced his turn in form in spectacular fashion taking on the feared wrestler Gregor Gillespie and head kicking his unbeaten record into next week.
Lee now takes on another beast who many are avoiding. Oliveira is coming off four submissions over Clay Guida, Jim Miller and David Teymur and knockouts over Nik Lentz and Jared Gordon in his last fight. He is in the form of his life finishing top fighters for fun and sits proudly on his UFC records of most submissions (13), most ‘performance of the night’ awards (9) and highest finished per win percentage at 93.75%.
PREDICTION
Lee is promising to finally live up to his potential and Oliveira has looked virtually flawless in his last six fights, so this is a fascinating contest. Oliveira's only loss in his last eight fights was to Paul Felder who eventually overwhelmed him with his size and power and Lee has the same advantage. Besides wrestling, Oliveira is more skilled everywhere so Lee is expected to enforce a game plan to utilise his power with wrestling and nullify the weapons of the experienced Brazilian.
Winner: Lee via Decision
Demian Maia vs Gilbert Burns
Two of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizards in the UFC lock horns in Brasilia supporting the main event as Demian Maia takes on Gilbert Burns.
After the dismantling of seven UFC foes, Maia crossed paths with three of the best wrestlers in the welterweight division – Tyron Woodley, Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman. They completely closed him down to earn unanimous decisions but the old dog proved he still has the hunger as he has gone on to submit Lyman Good, outpoint Rocco Martin and earn his 14th submission in his last fight by finishing Ben Askren.
Fellow grappling beast, Burns is on a roll himself and on a four-fight winning streak. After starching Jason Saggo and Dan Moret, Burns got a taste of his own medicine suffering a knockout to Dan Hooker. Now, he is coming off a unanimous decision over Olivier Aubin-Mercier, a submission over Mike Davis and two more unanimous decisions over Alexey Kunchenko and Gunnar Nelson.
PREDICTION
Unless Burns gets rocked by Maia, he is too skilled to get submitted by him and as good as it would be to see these submission artists battle it out on the floor, their skills will cancel each other out forcing a stand-up battle.
This is where Burns should have the edge. He is the more technical and powerful striker and he should win the exchanges but a knockout would be surprising as Maia has only been finished once in his career which was back in 2009.
Winner: Burns via Decision
Renato Moicano vs Damir Hadzovic
Renato Moicano heads back to his roots in Brasilia and returns to fight ‘The Bosnian Bomber’ Damir Hadzovic.
Storming up the featherweight ranks and sitting on a record of 13-1-1, Moicano stepped up to fight former champion Jose Aldo back in February last year. He suffered his first knockout loss, outclassed by the legend, and then suffered a consecutive knockout finish four months later when he took on Chan Sung Jung so he now moves up to lightweight in attempts to get back in the winning column.
After edging a decision over Nick Hein and knocking out Marco Polo Reyes, Hadzovic is also now coming off a loss which was a unanimous decision to Christos Giagos. That loss made it 3-3 in the UFC and he is finding out first-hand how hard it is to string wins together, especially in the featherweight division.
PREDICTION
Hadzovic is a strong wrestler and Moicano is a slick submission artist but this fight is likely to be won on the feet. Hadzovic is bullish and a powerful striker but Moicano has the poise to inflict all the damage with his jab and leg kicks which will be more potent up at lightweight. He can keep Hadzovic at a distance, but his jab in particular is powerful enough to break the Bosnian down and get a decision at least.
Winner: Moicano via Decision
Johnny Walker vs Nikita Krylov
Two absolute weapons in the light heavyweight division are ready for a gun fight as Johnny Walker heads back to Brazil to take on the Ukrainian finisher Nikita Krylov.
The hype train of Johnny Walker was running at full tilt, riding a nine-fight winning streak including seven knockouts, but it was shockingly derailed by Corey Anderson in his last fight. Anderson was expected to hunt the takedown but instead hunted Walker’s chin after tagging it early. He proceeded to finish the job, which forced Walker back to the drawing board to devise a plan to get back where he left off in knocking out the likes of Khalil Rountree Jr, Justin Ledet and Misha Cirkunov.
Cut from the same cloth, Krylov has finished all 25 of his wins with 10 knockouts. However, after earning a second stint in the UFC off the back of four straight wins, he has lost two of his last three. He got submitted by Jan Blachowicz in 2018 and responded with a brilliant performance and submission of his own over Ovince Saint Preux but is now coming off a split decision over Glover Teixeira.
PREDICTION
On paper, Walker is arguably an easier assignment than Krylov’s past UFC fights, but the Brazilian’s strengths make him extremely dangerous. He has a huge frame at 6’5” and an 82-inch reach but it is his dynamism and explosiveness on the feet that enables him to find a knockout from a variety of angles.
That said, Krylov will have the confidence to trade with him especially after seeing Anderson knock him out. However, that loss should remove any complacency and Walker is expected to come in more focused and deliver an explosive performance to notch his 15th knockout.
Winner: Walker via KO/TKO
Randa Markos vs Amanda Ribas
Randa Markos has stepped up to the plate to fight Amanda Ribas on her home patch after Paige VanZant had to pull out with another injury.
Markos is a UFC veteran now after first appearing on The Ultimate Fighter back in 2014. She has gone 6-6-1 in the UFC which is a healthy record considering she was part of the first batch of strawweight fighters continually fighting the best in the world. She has not been able to string two wins together, but she is coming off a split decision win over Ashley Yoder after a unanimous decision loss to Claudia Gadelha and fills in as a replacement to break the trend.
Ribas is at the start of her UFC career and has got off to a flying start winning her first two fights to bring her record up to 8-1. The loss was a knockout to Polyana Viana for Jungle Fight back in 2015 and she responded with a win the following year but only made her UFC debut last June. Here, she submitted Emily Whitmire and is coming off a very impressive performance over MacKenzie Dern - stifling the jiu-jitsu champion and outclassing her in every area.
PREDICTION
Markos has the experience and is arguably a tougher assignment than her original opponent. She is very well-rounded and likely to call upon her grappling but as we saw in Ribas’ last fight, she will not be easy to take down with her judo base.
Ribas was even able to take Dern down and stay in top position so she will not be worried about Markos’ threat on the ground. The Brazilian should also have the edge on the feet. She is a dynamic and powerful striker and her movement will give Markos a lot of problems and if everything comes together for her on the night, we could see a new contender in the strawweight division.
Winner: Ribas via Decision
Striking and grappling stats sourced via FightMetric.