UFC Fight Night 288, aka Noche UFC 4, takes place on Saturday night in Arizona and we’ve got our predictions for all the fights below.

Main Card

Jean Silva vs. Jose Delgado

Jean Silva headlines Noche UFC 4 with a 6–1 UFC record, and will be facing a late replacement in Jose Delgado, who steps in for the injured Yair Rodriguez on just over two weeks’ notice.

Silva’s lone UFC loss came at last year’s Noche UFC, where Diego Lopes caught him with a spinning back elbow in Round 2. The 29-year-old has since bounced back though by beating Arnold Allen on the scorecards in January. Silva is an impressive striker who benefits from his natural speed, timing and power, and is also adept at making quick reads and using his footwork and head movement to slide out of danger and return fire. He can get a bit carried away at times though and become overconfident, which cost him against Lopes, but overall he’s a dangerous striker with 12 wins by T(KO), and he’s capable of opportunistic submissions too, including a ninja choke on Bryce Mitchell. He prefers to keep fights standing though and uses his striking and submission counters to punish opponents who try to take him down.

Delgado arrives off a unanimous decision over Austin Bachi a couple of months ago that took him to 4–1 in the UFC. This is the 28-year-old’s biggest test yet, so it’s unfortunate he’s only had a couple of weeks to prepare, but it’s made a little easier by the fact he’s fighting on home soil in Arizona. Delgado is a rangy featherweight with a four‑inch height and reach advantage here, who will work high‑volume combinations of punches and kicks from range and does a good job of mixing in knees inside. His wrestling is serviceable and he has four submission wins, but his striking is still his main threat and has delivered six finishes.

Delgado is a respectable opponent here, but Silva’s speed, accuracy, dynamism and sharp counter-striking should win out here, leading to a 3rd round TKO finish.

Pick: Jean Silva wins by TKO in Rd3.

Brandon Moreno vs. Joseph Morales

Brandon Moreno is coming off two straight defeats as he now prepares to go up against Joseph Morales, who has won both his fights since returning to the Octagon.

Former flyweight champ Moreno hasn’t been at his best lately, being TKO’d by Tatsuro Taira for the first time in his career back in December and then suffering a unanimous decision loss to Lone’er Kavanagh in February. That could be a sign that his long run of tough fights in the UFC is finally taking a toll on him, though the 32-year-old this week has instead pointed to it being a mentality issue that he’s worked to resolve. Moreno still has the ability to do well as he’s a good pressure boxer with an assured jab who is able to work well in the pocket. Moreno also has competent wrestling and is a real threat from submissions, accounting for 11 of his 16 finishes over the years, although the last of those was all the way back in 2021. In the present day he does seem to be lacking a bit of his previous energy and intensity though, and might not be quite as durable as he once was.

Morales, who is also 32-years-old, has had a bit of a stop‑start career since going 1-2 during his first brief UFC run between 2017 and 2018. He went on to have some years-long gaps after that before resurfacing to win TUF 33 in 2025, and has since also submitted Matt Schnell to take his career record to a healthy 14‑2. Grappling is a strength for Morales, who now has eight submission wins, but his wrestling can be inconsistent to help get the fight to the mat. Morales is a willing boxer on the feet though with capable fundamentals, though he’s not got the heaviest hands so only has a couple of TKO victories.

Moreno may have passed his prime, but he’s still a tough opponent, and I suspect Morales will struggle to get him down reliably, and is facing someone who has never been submitted. Meanwhile, on the feet Moreno has the better boxing and I think will get the better of the exchanges to come away with a decision win.

Pick: Brandon Moreno wins by decision.

Tommy McMillen vs. Marwan Rahiki

Tommy McMillen and Marwan Rahiki both comes into this fight unbeaten, including two wins each in the UFC so far.

The 28-year-old McMillen wields an 11-0 career record, including ten finishes, split down the middle between strikes and submissions. He’s a big featherweight at 6ft, though Rahiki isn’t small either, so he only has an extra 2″ in height and reach here. McMillen likes to overwhelms opponents with his aggressive pace and hard-hitting volume striking on the feet, and while that’s often led to 1st round finishes, he has also proven to have impressive cardio to sustain the onslaught deep into fights. His defense can be an afterthought at times, but he’s shown a strong chin and the ability to recover from adversity. While McMillen prefers to strike, he’s also comfortable working from the clinch, has solid wrestling, and has a solid selection of chokes on the mat.

The 24-year-old Rahiki is 9–0 in his career so far, with his two TKO wins in the UFC taking him up to eight wins in total by strikes. He fires off fast combinations of punches and kicks and does a nice job of targetting all levels. Like McMillen, he’s hittable and he’s been visibly hurt on occasions, but so far he’s found ways to rally and get the victory. However, while he does have one submission win, his ground game is still a bit of a question mark at this level.

Both fighters here have shown that they can be dangerous, and with both being hittable, this has the potential to go either way. However, I think McMillen’s relentless pace, pressure, and gritty toughness give him the edge and he’ll battle his way to a 2nd round TKO victory.

Pick: Tommy McMillen wins by TKO in Rd2.

Manon Fiorot vs. Alexa Grasso

Manon Fiorot won her last fight by TK0 in the first round, while Alexa Grasso found a KO finish inside of the first five minutes too.

The 36-year-old Fiorot is only slightly taller than Grasso but is naturally the bigger, stronger and more physically imposing flyweight. She’s harnessed that to finish seven of her 13 wins by strikes, but over time has managed to find a balance between power and cardio that’s helped ensure her steady, impactful kickboxing continues to be a threat over the course of three or even five full rounds. Fiorot also has strong takedown defense, is competent at staying out of trouble on the mat and has never been finished in her career.

The 33-year-old Grasso was once considered undersized for flyweight after failing to live up to her potential at strawweight, yet would go on to compile a strong winning run that culminated with a shock upset win over champion Valentina Shevchenko back in 2023. However, by the third fight in their trilogy Shevchenko had re-established her dominance to reclaim the belt and Silva would go on to lose to Natalia Silva as well in her next fight. Grasso has responded well to those setbacks though with a statement KO win over Maycee Barber in March that’s put her firmly back in the mix. That being said, it has to be noted that finish was a bit of an outlier as her last finish by strikes was over a dozen years ago. Still, Grasso is a talented fighter with sharp technical boxing and fast footwork to dart in and out of range. Her wrestling isn’t the best and she can be outmuscled at times, but she does have a crafty grappling game and will look to chain submission attempts on top or off her back.

Grasso’s speed and movement could be the difference here, but I lean towards Fiorot’s size and strength helping her to keep the fight where she wants it and then being able to land the harder, more damaging blows over three rounds to win by decision.

Pick: Manon Fiorot wins by decision.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Curtis Blaydes

Waldo Cortes‑Acosta’s three‑fight winning streak was broken by Alexander Volkov last time out and now he goes up against Curtis Blaydes, who has been switching between wins and losses across his last six bouts.

The 34-year-old Cortes‑Acosta has put together a solid 10–3 run over the past four years in the UFC despite a fairly stripped down set of skills. His game has long been built on fundamental boxing, making frequent use of a steady jab and low kicks, while also having speed, capable footwork and reliable cardio. However, last year he began sitting down on his punches more and was rewarded with a number of finishes . Still, seasoned kickboxer Volkov exposed the limitations that still remain by picking him apart from range last time out.

The 35-year-old Blaydes spent much of the last decade hovering near heavyweight title contention but has repeatedly faltered at key moments. He’s a big heavyweight who moves well for his size and likes to utilize a cautious boxing game from range, together with a strong wrestling base that paves the way to unleash brutal ground-and-pound. Durability has been a problem for Blaydes though, with five of his six UFC losses having come by strikes. That made his last fight against Josh Hokit puzzling, as he abandoned his usual strategy in favor of just slugging it out for three punishing rounds in which both men suffered a lot of damage, and while he somehow survived he ended up losing on the scorecards.

While it was the most entertaining spectacle of Blaydes career he’d be wise to avoid brawling on Saturday night. The problem though is that while his best chance of success is with wrestling here, he has had issues closing the distance without getting caught, and so I feel Cortes-Acosta has a real chance of landing a knockout blow here by the 2nd round.

Pick: Waldo Cortes-Acosta wins by KO in Rd2.

David Martínez vs. Dan Ige

David Martinez is 3-0 in the UFC and now gets to open up the Noche UFC 4 main card against Dan Ige, who has only picked up one victory in his last five appearances.

The 28-year-old Martinez came into the UFC via the Contender Series, but had already been a three‑time Combate champion before that. And the UFC have not hesitated to throw him into big fights early in his UFC run as he’s already been in two co-main events against established veterans in Rob Font and Marlon Vera, which didn’t phase him as he beat both by decision. Martinez is a dynamic muay thai striker who is fast and accurate with all eight limbs, and he’s also comfortable mixing in spinning techniques with good accuracy. 10 of his 14 career wins have come by strikes, and his takedown defense has been reliable to keep the action upright, leaving his ground game largely untested.

The 35-year-old is coming off the first TKO loss of his career against Melquizael Costa in February. His UFC form has actually been inconsistent for a long time and he’s only mustered four wins from his last ten bouts. That’s perhaps partly down to consistently being matched up against high-level opponents, where he’s usually able to stay somewhat competitive, but rarely emerges victorious. Ige remains a gritty veteran though with compact boxing combinations at close range, solid body work, and he has the ability to mix in takedowns too. Signs of decline are creeping in however, and his durability is now a potential concern.

Martinez is firmly in his prime years and with momentum on his side I think he will have too much on the feet for the aging Ige here, though I think he’ll make it to the final bell.

Pick: David Martinez wins by decision.

Prelims

Tim Elliott vs. Édgar Cháirez
Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Muslim Salikhov
Yousri Belgaroui vs. Djorden Santos
Drakkar Klose vs. Thomas Gantt
Rafa García vs. Rong Zhu
Sean King vs. Jessie Rosas
JJ Aldrich vs. Regina Tarin