UFC Fight Night 241 takes place in Las Vegas tomorrow night and we’ve got our predictions for all the fights below.
Main Card
Edson Barboza vs. Lerone Murphy
After back-to-back victories in 2023, Edson Barboza now squares off against Lerone Murphy, who has gone unbeaten in his MMA career so far, including five victories and a draw in the UFC.
At 38-years-old Barboza is still an impressively fast, agile and dynamic striker who comfortable went the full five rounds to beat Sodiq Yusuff on the scorecards last time out. He has a very versatile kicking game, with brutal leg kicks being complimented by non-telegraphed head kicks and spinning attacks, while his punches and knees are mixed in fluidly too. Barboza has fairly solid takedown defense, but can be brought down to the mat at times, though you’d have to go back the best part of a decade to find the last time he was submitted. While he’s aged well Barboza has been in so many stand-up wars that it inevitably has to catch up to him eventually, so durability issues is always a potential concern at this stage in his career.
The 32-year-old Murphy is an athletically built and talented striker. He doesn’t have the versatility and flair of Barboza on the feet, but he has very sound boxing ability, has good fight IQ and will mix in solid kicks along with his well placed punches to the head and body. His knockout knee against Makwan Amrikhani a few fights back also showed off his good timing. Meanwhile, Murphy is a capable offensive wrestler, though his takedown defense isn’t the best. He has good ground-and-pound, but though he can go for submissions he’s not actually finished with one as yet.
Murphy has done well so far, but a win over Barboza could really take his career to a new level. It’s certainly his toughest test so far though and also his first taste of fighting in a five-rounder. Mixing in his wrestling could make a difference, but I think a striking battle is more likely to ensue here and even at 38 I think Barboza’s still very challenging to get the better of in that department, so I’ll take the Brazilian to edge out a win on the scorecards here.
Pick: Edson Barboza wins by decision.
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Khaos Williams vs. Carlston Harris
Khaos Williams earned a split-decision victory last time out to go 5-2 in his UFC run so far and now fights Carlston Harris, who claimed back-to-back wins in 2023 to go 4-1 in the Octagon.
Williams made a good start to his UFC career when he knocked out his first two opponents in the opening round back in 2020, but it’s hard to keep that kind of run going and the 30-year-old has fought to the scorecards on four out of five fights since. So he is capable of making his kickboxing game work over 15 minutes if required rather than just being a brute-force brawler, but his preference is still to throw with power and speed when he can, while also having a solid chin. Williams can also work in the clinch and will wrestle at times too.
The almost 37-year-old Harris arrived in the UFC a bit on the late side, but he remains a well-conditioned fighter and his only loss so far in the promotion came against a major player in Shavkat Rakhmonov, who did manage to KO him in early 2022. Harris isn’t the slickest striker, but he throws with power and will use strikes to close the distance and set up chances to clinch or wrestle. He has a grinding style in those positions and has a solid submission, including sinking in three anaconda chokes in the UFC so far.
This is a well-matched fight and I’ve changed my mind a few times on the pick, but though Williams has the stand-up edge I’ll say Harris hangs on in there in the striking exchanges, gets the better of the ground game and has more gas in the tank late to secure a narrow decision victory.
Pick: Carlston Harris wins by decision.
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Themba Gorimbo vs. Ramiz Brahimaj
After losing in his UFC debut last year Themba Gorimba has got back on track with two wins and looks to continue to build moment against Ramiz Brajimaj, who has put together a 2-2 run in the Octagon.
The 33-year-old Gorimbo hit the headlines last year when he caught the attention of ‘The Rock’, who was so moved by the Zimbabwean’s tough life story and the fact that he only had $7.49 in his bank account at the time that he surprised him by buying him a home for the fighter and his young family and paying his bills too. With those burdens removed Gorimbo has now been able to focus on his MMA career. He’ll have a 2″ height and 5″ reach advantage in this match-up, though he actually tends to fight at closer quarters. He’s a capable stand-up fighter and wrestles too, showing off solid ground-and-pound and some submission ability too.
Brahimaj is no stranger to life’s struggles either as he’s been plagued by health and injury issues over the years that have held him back, including having a Contender Series fight scrapped a few years ago due to the discovery of a tumor behind his left eye. Brahimaj has had a few UFC fights under his belt since then with mixed results, but injury setbacks means he’ll have been out of action for well over two years ahead of this fight. Brahimaj is a decent striker but doesn’t show much in terms of volume and instead prefers to seek out opportunities to work on the mat, where he’s adept at taking the back and finishing with rear-naked chokes. In fact all 10 of his career victories have come via submission.
The long layoff and injury struggles are a concern for Brahimaj, and I think even if Gorimbo is rough around the edges his desire to do well and room for improvement now that he’s had time to reap the rewards from better training will pay off here as he gets the better of the striking and stays competitive with his wrestling too in order to win on the scorecards.
Pick: Themba Gorimbo wins by decision.
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Adrian Yanez vs. Vinicius Salvador
After starting his time in the UFC with a five-fight winning streak, Adrian Yanez found the going tougher in 2023 with back-to-back TKO losses. Now he’ll look to return to the win column in a fight with Vinicius Salvador, who gone winless in his first two UFC fights.
The 30-year-old Yanez is a skilled, fast-paced striker who likes to get inside on his opponents to attack with quick, powerful boxing combinations and can fire off the occasional swift kick upstairs too. He has a high output, but is still potent with it, having finished four of his five UFC wins via strikes so far. His focus on continual offense onslaughts can lead to him eating strikes too though and while he has a BJJ black belt he doesn’t tend to put that to work much.
Salvador is a 27-year-old striker with a creative but fairly reckless striking style that blends muay thai with capoeira, putting an emphasis on showmanship while hunting for highlight-reel finishes. On the regional circuit that worked out fairly well, with all but one of his 14 wins coming via strikes. He picked up a few losses along the way too though and now that he’s in the UFC he’s finding it tougher to make those low-percentage strikes count, which takes a toll on his cardio and leaves him vulnerable to being countered.
As such I like Yanez here with his more focused and effective stand-up ability to win out here, setting up a TKO finish in the second round.
Pick: Adrian Yanez wins by TKO in Rd2.
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Luana Pinheiro vs. Angela Hill
Luana Pinheiro was TKO’d by Amanda Ribas late last year, but had won three fights in a row prior to that. Now she’ll move on to fighting Angela Hill, who has won three of her last four fights.
The 30-year-old Pinheiro has a life-long background in Judo and that’s still an important aspect of her fighting style in the present day. She is aggressive on the feet and will come forward throwing with bad intentions, but ideally she’s looking to close the distance enough to set up clinch opportunities where she can work in her powerful judo throws. She doesn’t have the most refined top game, but she can work for submissions, though we’ve only seen her successfully implement them on the regional scene so far. Given that both Pinheiro’s striking and judo rely on her physicality and power that can take a toll on her cardio.
At 39-years-old and having spent the vast majority of her 29-fight career in the UFC, Hill is an experienced veteran at this point. And she’s still in good shape physically too, showing no real signs of losing her speed or stamina yet. Her ability to fight at an energetic pace has almost been an important aspect of her game as though she has clean striking technique she’s never had much in the way of finishing power and so looks for high-volume attacks, movement and angles to help her outpoint her opponents. She’s also developed a respectable clinch game to help along the way, but her ground game is weaker.
I’d expect this one to go to the scorecards and Pinheiro’s more impactful work could edge it in her favor, but I’ll say Hill’s higher work rate and better endurance in the final round will be enough to eek out a close decision victory.
Pick: Angela Hill wins by decision.
Prelims (Predicted winners in bold)
Abus Magomedov vs. Warlley Alves
Victor Martinez vs. Tom Nolan
Hailey Cowan vs. Tamires Vidal
Piera Rodriguez vs. Ariane Carnelossi
Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Emily Ducote
