UFC Macau picks and predictions

See who we think will win this weekend.

Will Figgy Smalls finish on top? Art by Chris Rini.

The UFC is off to Macau this weekend, a city known as the Las Vegas of the East. And they’ve brought a pretty interesting main event with them. Former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan will be locking horns with former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo.

The co-main could be fun, too with Yan Xiaonan meeting Tabatha Ricci. There’s also a Wang Cong appearnace. She might be the next big thing at Flyweight. She’s going to try and starch Gabriella Fernandes like she did Victoria Leonardo in her debut. The main card also has Volkan Oezdemir vs. Carlos Ulberg in a fight that will likely end in a KO.

Much of the remainder of the card features Road to UFC talent, which are likely to be complete unknowns to the majority of the North American viewing audience. That doesn’t mean the fights will suck, though. I mean, they might, but so did Bo Nickal vs. Paul Craig and you’ve all heard of those guys.

We’ve done our due diligence on these match-ups and tried to predict who is going to win. You can see those picks below. If you’re using them to bet real live money, then please do so responsibly. Oh and good luck!

---

---

Petr Yan (-320) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (+250)

Miguel Class: I’ve really enjoyed Fig’s move to bantamweight and I think it was the perfect direction to take his post-prime career, but his first three matchups in the division haven’t convinced me that he can compete at the same level in this division. I also think his increasing reliance on his grappling doesn’t bode well against Petr Yan, who despite losing to committed grapplers like Aljo and Merab, remains one of the most defensively sound wrestlers in the division.

On the feet, Fig has leaned into his counterstriking and that has served him well against opponents like Font who provide plenty of opportunities and can be hurt easily enough to make a low-volume approach work. Yan is much tougher to hit than he seems, has a great chin even when he does, and can take exchanges into the deeper layers that it seems like Fig mostly wants to avoid these days.