A week off to fight fans seems an eternity but thankfully, the UFC returns this weekend!
Nashville will play host to a heavyweight main event with UFC stalwart and fan favourite Derrick Lewis returning to the octagon to throw hands with Tallison Texeira as the main event.
The fun doesn’t end there with Stephen Wonderboy Thompson taking on Gabriel Bonfim in the co-main event.
Set yourself up for a morning/afternoon of quality fights on Sunday and put together a nice multi.
Here are my tips.
Derrick Lewis vs Tallison Texeira
Derrick Lewis’s contribution to the sport of MMA and the UFC has been immense and at 40 years of age he enters his 42 professional fights.
He holds the most knockout wins in the promotion’s history and although he has never touched UFC gold, he has remained in the top 10 for the majority of his professional career.
Lewis enters this fight having won two of his last three, the latest of which came in May of 2024 in Missouri where he extended his knockout record with a third round finish.
Tallison Teixeira represents a new breed of heavyweight mixed martial artist out of Sao Paulo in Brazil.
In a division that has been dominated by the older generation for quite some time, this 25 year-old is undefeated in eight pro fights.
That winning streak includes one in Dana White’s Contender Series and a win on debut against Justin Tafa.
All eight of his wins have been finishes and although this is a big step up in quality of opponent he is the rightful favourite.
2 Units Tallison Teixeira To Win @ $1.35
Wonderboy Thompson vs Gabriel Bonfim
The nicest guy in the sport Stephen Thompson extends his career into his 43rd year of life.
He has been able to fight into his forties mainly because he has never been a super active fighter but he’s also been very successful.
His record shows just one win in his last five fights dating right back to 2021 but two of those were decisions and he’s been fighting the best that the welterweight division has to offer.
Just like the main event this is a case of a veteran fighter taking on the new breed.
Gabriel Bonfim is just 27 years of age and was undefeated when winning a UFC contract through DWCS back in 2022.
He has won four of his five fights in the UFC including a submission win over Khaos Williams in February. A chance against a legend like Wonderboy shouldn’t be taken lightly and I’m predicting the judges will be needed for this one.
4 Units Fight To Go The Distance $2.25
Calvin Kattar vs Steve Garcia
Kattar made his UFC debut in 2017 and had a steady rise through the rankings.
Wins over Ricardo Lamas, Jeremy Stephens and Giga Chikadze put him on the precipice of a title shot but he has now lost his last four in a row.
Steve Garcia had a successful career in Bellator before making his way to the UFC via DWCS in 2019.
After a rocky start in the promotion he now has five wins in a row dating back to 2022.
All five of those wins have been by KO/TKO and the fact that he’ll have plenty of fire power coming back his way has led me to my recommended bet.
2 Units Fight To Not Go The Distance $1.46