The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heads to Las Vegas for its third pay-per-view event of the year.
UFC 313 will take place on March 8, and is headlined by light heavyweight champion Alex Pereria, who looks to defend his title against the number one contender Magomed Ankalaev. With many exciting matchups on this card, this article will break down four of the most intriguing ones and pick a winner for each.
4) King Green vs. Mauricio Ruffy
(Prediction: Ruffy by Third Round Knockout (KO)/Total Knockout (TKO)
The lightweight division is by far the most stacked division in the UFC talent wise currently, to the point where very talented fighters like these two are both ranked outside of the top 15.
Ruffy boasts an 11-1 record to go along with a six fight win streak currently. However, only two of those wins are in the UFC, so he will be looking to make a statement with a win over the veteran Green. He has shown himself to be a headhunter in the octagon, with 75 percent of his significant strikes being to the head and 10 of his 11 wins being by knockout, but he has also managed to stuff 100 percent of the takedowns attempted on him.
Green, on the other hand, is a proven veteran with a 32-16-1 record in MMA. The 38-year-old has won three of his last five fights, beating proven veterans like Jim Miller and Tony Ferguson to show that he still has juice left in the tank.
He can win on the ground or standing up, as he has 11 wins by knockout and nine by submission. So, even if Ruffy is successful on the feet, Green can decide to take the fight to the ground and give Ruffy a test that he hasn’t seen yet in the UFC.
This fight is poised to be a contested one that will go the distance, being that it’s only three rounds.
3) Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev
(Prediction: Blaydes by Second Round KO/TKO)
It’s not every day that you see a fighter make his UFC debut against a guy whose last fight was for the heavyweight championship belt, but that is the case here with Kuniev.
Blaydes has won four of his last six, with one of both the wins and losses being current interim champion Tom Aspinall. It is clear that the UFC thinks very highly of Kuniev after his knockout win on the Dana White Contender Series, so it will be very telling of what his future is like in the heavyweight division if he can get a win over Blaydes.
Stylistically, this is a matchup that favors Kuniev, as three of his last four wins have come by knockout. One of the biggest knocks against Blaydes has been his chin strength, as all of his losses in the UFC have come via knockout.
However, Blaydes is still a savvy veteran fighter with far more experience than Kuniev has. Blaydes has fought some of the best fighters on the planet and held his own, so he should by no means be written off.
Of his 18 wins, 13 have come by knockout, so it seems very likely that this will be a stand and bang match. Kuniev likely has a promising future in the heavyweight division, but the UFC might have gotten a bit ahead of themselves matching him up with a veteran like Blaydes in his first matchup.
Most recently, we saw Kai Asakura make his debut in a title fight in a situation similar to this. In that fight, we saw Asakura get overwhelmed quickly by Alexandre Pantoja, who was simply just a caliber of fighter that Asakura is not yet.
I expect something similar to that in this fight, with Blaydes proving to just be a different caliber of fighter than Kuniev is at this stage in his career.
2) Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev
(Prediction: Gaethje by Unanimous Decision )
A chance to fight for the lightweight championship belt is potentially on the line for Gaethje here. Current champion Islam Makhachev has said publicly that he would be open to a fight against Gaethje if he were to win his fight at UFC 313.
Gaethje is currently coming off of a knockout loss to Max Holloway at UFC 300 and is now 3-3 in his last six fights since 2020. Regardless, he is still as dangerous as ever and more than capable of putting Fiziev’s lights out.
For Fiziev, this is a rematch of a highly contested fight from nearly two years ago that was seemingly dead even until the final few minutes of the third round. He showed he is more than capable of being in the octagon with a top contender like Gaethje and that he has elite striking skills.
Since their first fight, Fiziev has only fought once, a loss to Mateusz Gamrot in September 2023. Rust could be a factor here, and he might just be out-matched by Gaethje’s skill in this one. The fight will likely stay on the feet for the majority of its duration, as both of these fighters are talented strikers who don’t tend to wrestle unless it is needed.
There was only one takedown in the entirety of their first fight, and even that came with just seconds left in the last round. Considering this will once again be a three-round match,
Gaethje might not have the time to get a knockout over a talented striker like Fiziev, but don’t be surprised if he still manages to overwhelm him for 15 minutes.
1) Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev
(Prediction: Pereira by Fourth Round KO/TKO)
The 2024 Fighter of the Year, Alex Pereira, makes his return against light heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev as he aims to defend his title for a third time.
Pereira is one of the most lethal fighters in the sport on the feet, to the point where six of his last seven wins have come via knockout.
Of his three fights since claiming the lightweight title back in 2023, Ankalaev will be his most difficult stylistic matchup yet. Pereira’s ground game has often come under scrutiny, with fans and analysts speculating how he will fare against a more proficient wrestler.
While he doesn’t have a single submission win in the UFC, Ankalaev has shown to have a respectable wrestling game.
With just a 31 percent takedown percentage in the UFC, if Pereira can keep this fight standing up heading into the championship rounds, he will likely overpower Ankalaev.
Calf kicks have also been a weak point for Ankalaev due to his boxing stance. Pereira is known to have some of the most lethal calf kicks in the UFC, so if Ankalaev comes out in his usual stance, then Pereira will have the chance to attack his base early and wear him down, similar to his approach to his first fight against Jiri Prochazka. Ultimately, this fight will come down to how much Pereira’s ground game has improved and how effective Ankalaev is at getting Pereira to the ground.
