One of the best Lightweights in the world will enter the octagon tonight to take another step towards grabbing the crown that his long-time training partner/mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, left on the mantle after he retired (29-0) as the Lightweight Champ. Islam Makhachev (19-1) suffered a knockout loss back in 2015 to Adriano Martins and since then has gone on to win 7 straight, most recently dominating Drew Dober and submitting him in Rd. 3 via an arm-triangle choke, and found himself in the top 10 at #9. It hasn’t been easy for UFC match makers to find fighters who are ranked higher than him willing to take on the Dagestan native, but if Islam comes through tonight victorious and puts on another show, its going to be really hard to deny this man what he, and Khabib, thinks is his destiny. Tonight he faces off against Thiago Moises (15-4) in the main event.
The #14 ranked Brazilian born Moises is coming off 3 straight victories himself, including most recently an unanimous decision victory over Alexander Hernandez, but comes into tonight as the heavy underdog at +500. Look for Makhachev (-720 favorite) to try to take this fight to ground early and often. He does have the power to stay up on the feet and win via KO, but Islam’s real power is in the ground game where he will ground and pound and look for submissions. Prediction: Makhachev via 3rd Rd. TKO
Returning after 5 long years and looking to make another run at the Bantamweight title she once held, is long time fan favorite Meisha Tate (18-7) when she steps back into the octagon for the co-main event and takes on 44 year old Marion Reneau. This is a tricky one to pick because you have 1 fighter returning after an extended time off to start a family and explore other career opportunities and the other fighter is a 44 years old coming off of 4 straight losses and already announced this will be her last fight. Tate is coming into tonight as the favorite at -135. There are a lot of unknowns in this fight but anytime you can get a former champion (who’s fought the likes of Amanda Nunes, Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm) at the price against an aging fighter coming off of 4 losses you have to take it. Prediction: Tate via Unanimous Decision