Not one, but two championship fights are on tap in UFC 248, which will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will look to defend his title for the second time, when he takes on Yoel Romero. Before that, Zhang Weili will be taking on Joanna Jędrzejczyk in her first fight since winning the women’s strawweight belt. Read on for more about those two fights and other bouts in the main card.
Adesanya successfully defended his middleweight title last October by knocking out Robert Whittaker in the second round. The Last Stylebender is undefeated in his mixed-martial arts career, largely because of his terrifying striking game. Adesanya carries a record of 18-0-0 with 14 knockout wins.His combination of length, speed, and power will be trouble for Romero, who will enter the octagon this weekend with a 6.5-reach disadvantage. Romero has lost his last two fights. He defeated Luke Rockhold for what should have been an interim middleweight title, but was not awarded to him after missing the weight cut. Romero is a dangerous striker, too. He owns a 13-4-0 record with 11 knockout wins. He’s also been knocked out just once.
Writer’s prediction:
Adesanya wins via KO.
Zhang Weili (-180) vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk (+150)
Women’s Strawweight
Weili, the reigning women’s strawweight UFC champion is about to defend her title for the first time. Weili (20-1-) won the belt by savagely knocking out Jessica Andrade in the first round of their bout in August of last year. Weili’s only loss came in her mixed-martial arts fight debut in 2013. She has not lost since. Jędrzejczyk (16-3-0) knows how it’s like to be a champion, as she’s held and defended a strawweight belt before. She lost her strawweight title to Rose Namajunas in 2017 and lost in a rematch the following year. Jędrzejczyk tried to win the vacant UFC women’s flyweight title in 2018 but lost to Valentina Shevchenko. In her last fight, Jędrzejczyk defeated Michelle Waterson via unanimous decision last October.
Writer’s prediction:
Jędrzejczyk wins via decision.
Beneil Dariush (-170) vs. Drakkar Klose (+140)
Lightweight
Dariush (17-4-1) is making noise. He has won each of his three most recent fights, including back-to-back submission victories over Drew Dober (March, 2019) and Frank Camacho (October, 2019). Prior to the Dober fight, Dariush scored a unanimous decision win over Thiago Moises in November of 2018. Dariush is dangerous on the mat with 44 percent — or eight — of his wins coming via submissions. Klose is also on a streak, having gone 3-0 in his past three bouts. Klose (11-1-0) has lasted the distance in all those fights. He has four knockout wins, though, the last one came way back in 2015.
Writer’s prediction:
Dariush wins via decision.
Neil Magny (+145) vs. Li Jingliang (-175)
Welterweight
It’s been a while since Magny (21-8-0) last fought. That was in 2018, when he took a knockout loss at the hands of Santiago Ponzinibbio in a UFC Fight Night headliner. Magny can get back on track with an upset win over Jingliang, and he’s seemingly got the tools to do it. Magny is three inches taller at 6-3 and has an incredible 8.5-reach advantage. Jingliang (17-5-0) is a knockout artist with eight wins via KO. He is on a three-fight win streak with his last two coming via knockouts. But with Magny’s reach advantage, Jingliang might have to use his ground skills more. He has four wins via submissions and have been submitted just once since he started fighting in 2007.
Writer’s prediction:
Jingliang knocks out Magny.
Alex Oliveira (-150) vs. Max Griffin (+120)
Welterweight
Oliveira (19-8-1) is hurting for a win. He’s lost all of his past three fights, and his last win came two years ago, when he knocked out Carlo Pedersoil. Oliveira has 12 knockouts wins and has only been knocked down once so far in his career. Griffin hasn’t also been steady of late, having won once over his last four fights. He is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Alex Morono last October. All but one of Griffin’s(15-7-0) losses were via decisions. He has a 7-1 KO record and a 2-0 submission slate.
