FanDuel<\/a>) is the two-fight losing streak he\u2019s on, but I think we all understand the context there. Getting swarmed twice by Merab Dvalishvili does not a shameful skid make. Yes, you can question whether O\u2019Malley has taken his eye off the ball since winning the championship as he seems happy being a wacky social media bro at times, but we know how good he can be and if he\u2019s serious about making one last run to the title, he\u2019ll be at his best Saturday.<\/p>\nSong\u2019s strengths are obvious. He hits like a truck and when he wants to he can wrestle some, which could prove highly valuable when dealing with O\u2019Malley. However, O\u2019Malley has a considerable reach advantage, is highly difficult to hit unless your name is Petr Yan, and also difficult to takedown unless your name is Merab Dvalishvili. I\u2019d also argue O\u2019Malley\u2019s accuracy gives him the better chance of landing a one-hitter quitter even if you want to give Song the edge in pure punching power.<\/p>\n
If Song can set the tone early and give O\u2019Malley little room to breathe, business could pick up, but the safe and smart bet is O\u2019Malley picking Song apart en route to a finish in Round 2 or 3, or a decision nod.<\/p>\n
Waldo Cortes-Acosta (7) vs. Derrick Lewis (13)<\/p>\n
The unstoppable force meets the immovable object with a 2026 twist.<\/p>\n
In theory, there\u2019s no slowing down Waldo Cortes-Acosta, who went from non-factor to beloved heavyweight with a rash of activity in 2025 that saw him win four out of five fights, including two wins in the month of November alone. Not only was \u201cSalsa Boy\u201d winning, he found his finishing touch, racking up three knockouts last year to achieve surprising notoriety.<\/p>\n
On the other side of this main card matchup you have Derrick Lewis, who, for lack of a kinder phrase, refuses to go away. A few weeks shy of his 41st birthday, Lewis had plenty of opportunities to fade into obscurity over the past few years, but with his unique alchemy of knockout power and wacky post-fight antics, he\u2019s not only stayed in the spotlight, he might damn well be one win away from a UFC White House title fight. He has also knocked off a hype train or two in his day, which feels relevant here.<\/p>\n
Cortes-Acosta is good. Very good. For a heavyweight, anyway. But I\u2019ve been on the wrong end of the \u201cDerrick Lewis is going to roll over\u201d pick before. Not today, my friends.<\/p>\n
Natalia Silva (3, P4P-7) vs. Rose Namajunas (9, P4P-14)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been said that Rose Namajunas is more dangerous as the predator than prey and we\u2019ve seen flashes of that at 125. Finishes at the higher weight class have eluded her (she hasn\u2019t ended a fight inside the distance since that incredible head kick of Zhang Weili in 2021), but she hasn\u2019t been a fish out of water. She\u2019s looked well ahead of mid-tier flyweights like Amanda Ribas, Tracy Cortez, and Miranda Maverick, and was competitive in losses to Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot. There\u2019s still some championship-quality \u201cThug Rose\u201d in there.<\/p>\n
The problem is there\u2019s plenty of championship-quality in Natalia Silva. Like, right now. \u201cNatty Ice\u201d has been a popular pick of the MMA Fighting Crew to dethrone Valentina Shevchenko (or claim a vacant title if Shevchenko exits for whatever reason) and I don\u2019t see Namajunas altering that trajectory. Remember what I said about the Blanchfield and Fiorot fights? Same story, Namajunas won\u2019t be outclassed, but she will consistently be beaten to the punch. And I don\u2019t have a lot of faith in her just bull-rushing Silva and tapping her. Again, it\u2019s been a while.<\/p>\n
Silva\u2019s speed is the big factor here. She\u2019s younger and a natural flyweight, so when you add those physical advantages to her striking expertise, that\u2019s too much for the always game Namajunas to overcome.<\/p>\n
Arnold Allen (7) vs. Jean Silva (8)<\/p>\n
My bold prediction here: Arnold Allen and Jean Silva are about to set the bar for 2026 Fight of the Year.<\/p>\n
These two have all the motivation in the world to put on a career-best performance, with Allen always looking to make up for lost time and Silva determined to refortify his contender case after suffering his first UFC loss and watching Diego Lopes waltz into a rematch with Alexander Volkanovski. Whatever you consider to be the best version of these fighters, you\u2019re going to see it tonight.<\/p>\n
Give me Allen, even though I don\u2019t feel the slightest bit confident about it. The knock on Allen is that he\u2019s not a finisher (fair) and he hasn\u2019t been able to win the big one (evidence is against him so far). Look closer and you\u2019ll find a smart fighter who picks his spots when it comes to pushing the pace and has put scares into Max Holloway and Movsar Evloev, two of the featherweight division\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
Silva is never a bad pick, of course. The emotionally charged Brazilian can KO anyone at 145 pounds, even someone like Arnold who has rarely been badly hurt in the cage. One mistake from Allen, this is over, and Silva is right back to breathing down the neck of whoever is champion after UFC 325.<\/p>\n
Allen doesn\u2019t make many mistakes, or at least that\u2019s what I expect this time, so I have him winning a decision after a tense three rounds.<\/p>\n
Umar Nurmagomedov (3) def. Deiveson Figueiredo (7)<\/p>\n
Ateba Gautier def. Andrey Pulyaev<\/p>\n
Modestas Bukauskas def. Nikita Krylov (14)<\/p>\n
Charles Johnson def. Alex Perez (12)<\/p>\n
Alexander Hernandez def. Michael Johnson<\/p>\n
Josh Hokit def. Denzel Freeman<\/p>\n
Ty Miller def. Adam Fugitt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Going six weeks without the UFC has been a virtual impossibility over the past few years, but that\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":["post-430377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}