UFC On ESPN 60 takes place tomorrow night in Las Vegas and we’ve got our predictions for all the fights below.
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Main Card
Amanda Lemos vs. Virna Jandiroba
Amanda Lemos is coming off a unanimous decision win over Mackenzie Dern and now will move on to fighting Virna Jandiroba, who has won her last three fights in the Octagon.
At 37-years-old, Lemos’ prime years are behind her, but she’s only a year removed from a title challenge and still remains a challenging opponent to deal with. She’s a powerful striker who doesn’t have the highest output, but when she does throw she’s accurate and can put together combinations nicely. Lemos is also capable of striking from the clinch, can seek out the occasional judo-style takedown, but her own takedown defense isn’t the best and she doesn’t have the deepest gas tank.
At 36, Jandiroba is getting up there in years too, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from her recent performances. Her striking ability is quite rough and ready, but usually it’s a means to an end anyway as she looks to get into close quarters and use her strong wrestling game to get the fight to the mat and dominate on top. Earlier in her career Jandiroba would frequently come away with submission victories, but it’s been four years since her last one and these days she’s content to just settle for embracing the grind.
So Lemos really has to keep this one standing to have a chance, but I think that’ll be easier said than done against a tough, gritty fighter like Jandiroba who should be able to take her down and apply her suffocating top game to win on the scorecards.
Pick: Virna Jandiroba wins by decision.
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Brad Tavares vs. Jun Yong Park
With three losses in his last four fights Brad Tavares will be eager to get back on track against Jun Yong Park, who was enjoying a four-fight unbeaten run up until his split-decision defeat against Andre Muniz last December.
The 36-year-old Tavares has been competing in the sport’s leading promotion for 14 years now. He’s never been a big name star during that period and hasn’t been able to push his way into title contention, but he has been a steady, dependable presence and has fought a who’s who of the middleweight division. Tavares works behind technically sound striking fundamentals and for much of his UFC run has shown good durability and cardio as well as solid takedown defense. He’s never had much in the way of stopping power though, so he prefers to just focus on outpointing opponents on the feet, and has 13 decision wins from 20 career wins to show for it. His chin is now showing signs of decline though, with two of his last three fights ending via TKO.
The 33-year-old Park is a solid, well-conditioned all-rounder who has a tenacious style that ensures he’s not easy to beat. He’s a capable counter-striker on the feet, but also benefits from his willingness to mix his martial arts, implementing his respectable wrestling and grappling game more frequently these days to good effect, with his last three wins all coming via submission.
I can see Park being the more active fighter here, looking to implement his ground game alongside his striking and being rewarded for his hustle as he emerges with a decision win.
Pick: Jun Yun Park wins by decision.
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Steve Garcia vs. Seung-woo Choi
Steve Garcia will attempt to extend his current winning steak to four fights on Saturday night when he fights Seung-Woo Choi, who is coming off a win after losing three bouts before that.
The 32-year-old Garcia’s UFC run has had quite the turnaround given that he suffered two losses in his first three appearances. However since then it’s his destructive striking ability that’s taken centre-stage, claiming three TKO victories in additional to a knockout win in his last fight. His actual striking technique has improved too and his ground-and-pound is nasty, but his wrestling defense is still a concern.
Garcia is typically the bigger man at 145lbs, but not so against the 31-year-old Choi, who matches up well with him in that regard. He has a muay thai striking style and can operate effectively both from range or in the clinch. He has solid power and will look to counter, but he can load up on his strikes at times and leave himself open to being caught in return. He’s been submitted twice in the UFC, but generally does a respectable job of working back to his feet if taken down.
I’m not convinced Garcia’s winning streak will last too much longer, but I do fancy his chances of getting the better of Choi here, adding to his tally of wins via strikes with a 2nd round TKO finish here.
Pick: Steve Garcia wins by TKO in Rd2.
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Kurt Holobaugh vs. Kaynan Kruschewsky
Kurt Holobaugh returned to the UFC for a third time last year after winning TUF 31, but picked up a loss a few months ago. Now he takes on Kaynan Kruschewsky, who was KO’d in the first round of his promotional debut late last year.
The 37-year-old Holobaugh has only mustered a 1-4 record from his five UFC fights, spread over three separate stints in the promotion. He’s not as bad as that record suggests though, being a willing fighter who stays active and aggressive on the feet, has decent power and is also a significant threat via submissions on the mat too. He’s also hard to finish, having only lost once by strikes and once by submission in his entire 28-fight career, but on the other hand he is quite hittable and can be a bit too willing to just stay on his back trying to work for submissions, which means he tends to lose when his fights go to the scorecards.
The 33-year-old Kruschewsky’s UFC debut didn’t go according to plan at all, but he did take that fight on extremely short notice. Still, it’ll be a concern to him that his only two career losses were both brutal 1st round KO’s. He’s not a bad striker and will look to press the action, though he’s more dangerous on the mat and has a good knack for locking in rear-naked and guillotine chokes.
After his last fight I think Kruschewsky’s going to be more eager than usual to get this fight to the mat, and with Holobaugh being too willing to accept playing off his back I can see this ending up being a bit of a stalemate where neither man is able to catch the other in a submission and Kruschewsky emerges with the decision victory.
Pick: Kaynan Kruschewsky wins by decision.
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Cody Durden vs. Bruno Silva
Cody Durden suffered a submission loss to Tagir Ulanbekov last time out, but has been on a four-fight unbeaten stretch before that. Now he’ll fight Bruno Silva, whose last loss also came against Ulanbekov, but has since put that behind him with three wins in a row.
The 33-year-old Durden will have a 3″ height and 2″ reach advantage over Silva and he’s an ok striker and has power, but the best part of his game is undoubtedly his wrestling and he’ll pursue takedown opportunities whenever possible. On the mat he has good control and can make an impact with his ground-and-pound, but he has been submitted a few times over the years.
The 34-year-old Silva can also operate on the feet or on the mat, though his wrestling game isn’t as good as Durden’s. He makes up for that by being a BJJ black belt who can work for submissions though, while on the feet he’s got good power and is durable.
I think Durden’s wrestling advantage will be key here, and though he’s been tapped out a few times in the past that’s generally been against higher-level grapplers than Silva. I think Durden will prove to have the better cardio too, so I’ll take him to win by decision.
Pick: Cody Durden wins by decision.
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Doo-ho Choi vs. Bill Algeo
After a strong start to his UFC career that took him to a 14-1 career record by 2016, Doo-Ho Choi then went on to lose three times before going on to spend three years out of action. He returned in 2023 and had to settle for a majority draw and now over a year later comes back again to fight Bill Algeo, who was TKO’d in March, but had picked up two wins in 2023.
Choi still has a youthful appearance and his ‘Korean Superboy’ nickname, but the reality is that he’s now 33-years-old after fighting just four times in the past eight years without tasting victory. At his best he was very entertaining to watch as he was athletic, offensively-minded and had big knockout power, which led him to win a string of fights via either KO or TKO. However, he was reckless in his approach and almost completely disregarded his defensive obligations, which proved to be his downfall. He’s only fought once in nearly four years so it’s difficult to assess where he’s at now, but he appears to have reinvented himself with a more careful approach that also sees him mix in more ground work along with his striking.
The 35-year-old Algeo is the bigger man here with a 2″ height and 3″ reach advantage. He’s never been the most technical or athletic fighter, but he’s a respectable all-rounder who makes the most of his toughness, determination and cardio to constantly bring the fight to his opponents wherever the fight goes. He can find himself in some tough spots at times, but he’s typically able to endure and keep pressing, leading him to wear down his opponents over time to emerge on top.
If Choi was more active then perhaps he could salvage something from what’s left of his career as he does have talent, but I think this may be a challenging fight for him since Algeo is tough enough to survive early and will then have a good chance to wear down Choi’s energy reserves later on to emerge with a win on the scorecards.
Pick: Bill Algeo wins by decision.
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Prelims (Predicted winners in bold)
Lee Jeong-yeong vs. Hyder Amil
Brian Kelleher vs. Cody Gibson
Miranda Maverick vs. Dione Barbosa
Loik Radzhabov vs. Trey Ogden
Luana Carolina vs. Lucie Pudilová
Mohammed Usman vs. Thomas Petersen
