The first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title fight of 2021 hits the pay-per-view (PPV) airwaves this Saturday (February 13, 2021) when welterweight champion Kamaru Usman meets emerging teammate Gilbert Burns within UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada . ESPN +’s PPV main map will also see Maycee Barber return from an injury against Alexa Grasso and Pedro Munhoz recover Jimmie Rivera in a brutal Bantamweight war.
Four UFC 258 “Prelims” ticket matches have yet to be investigated (watch the first series here), so let’s watch …
155 lbs .: Bobby Green against Jim Miller
Bobby Green (27-11-1) – who has won just one of his previous seven fights – will turn the tables in 2020 with three consecutive victories and a “Fight of the Night” bonus. ‘King’ apparently made the 4-0 series against Thiago Moises in October 2020, but liquidated on the wrong side of a controversial unanimous decision.
He stands two inches taller than ‘A-10’ at 5’10. ‘
Jim Miller (32-15) was apparently finished after a 1-5 slide, and showed he still had some life in him by winning three of his next four games, including a bonus-winning finish of the strongly popular Roosevelt Roberts. Vinc Pichel was a tougher nut to crack, and Miller was successful at UFC 252 for too long in August 2020.
His 22 professional strikes include 18 submissions.
I will readily admit that I have counted Miller out more than once prematurely, but to perform just above expectation is not going to get him past Green. “King’s” is a sufficiently wrestling wrestler to keep it standing and holds a significant lead in the box, which limits Miller’s chances of hitting him with pressure or getting that deadly top game going.
Green’s has recently increased its volume and Miller’s has an increasing tendency to fade late. Essentially, Miller needs an early finish to win it, and Green is notoriously hard to put away for anyone other than Dustin Poirier. “King” is back on track with an increasingly one-sided spread-and-fight decision.
Forecast: Green by unanimous decision
185 pounds: Rodolfo Vieira against Anthony Hernandez
Rodolfo Vieira (7-0) – one of the most decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu players to ever hit the mats – dominated his time on the international MMA track before joining the UFC in 2019. He tapped Oskar Piechota after two rounds in his Octagon. debut, then needed less than five minutes to do the same to Saparbeg Safarov in March 2020.
He submitted six professional opponents and stopped a seventh with ground-and-pound.
It got worse for Anthony Hernandez (7-2) when, after seeing his brutal knockout of Jordan Wright on ‘Contender Series’ overturned due to a failed drug test, he fell victim to an anaconda suffocation from Markus Perez in his Octagon. debut. ‘Fluffy’ bounced back six months later with an anaconda finish from Jun Yong Park, but fell to Kevin Holland in just 39 seconds.
He has a two-inch disadvantage against ‘The Black Belt Hunter’.
While he’s probably the toughest opponent of Vieira’s mixed martial arts (MMA) career, it’s hard to see it well for Hernandez. Perez, a very limited wrestler, managed to largely shut down Hernandez’s offense before finally cracking his defense and securing the finish. A technical wizard and physical powerhouse like Vieira should make it much easier, and Hernandez’s striking lead would not mean much if he could not stand it long enough to use it.
I really think “Fluffy” is better than he’s shown so far in the Octagon … or at least has greater potential. All that matters, though, is what you drive in the cage, and what he did indicates bad things about his chances. Eventually Vieira bullies him on the mat for an early submission.
Prediction: Vieira via submission in the first round
170 lbs: Belal Muhammad against Dhiego Lima
If you continue the trend, here’s another one that was supposed to happen last year and fell apart after I wrote it down …
Belal Muhammad (17-3) started a 1-2 eight behind him to win four in a row before hitting the emerging Geoff Neal last year. He has since put together a winning streak of three fights, including a decision on Lyman in June 2020.
He gives three centimeters height and reaches Dhiego Lima (15-7) almost as much.
A Skid of 1-3 jumped Lima from UFC, and although he managed to find his way back via The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 25, he follows a loss in the final with a decided defeat against Yushin Okami . He enters the cage on Saturday on a three-fight winning streak, and a win will be his longest unbeaten run since 2011.
This is his first appearance since defeating Luke Jumeau in October 2019.
I will admit that I have greatly underestimated Lima in his recent efforts, but Muhammad just seems wrong to him. ‘Remember the name’ is more than able to keep its own feet, especially since Lima’s fragility offsets Mohammed’s lack of stopping power, and he has the kind of struggle that has suited Lima in the past.
The only things Lima really wants for him here are height and range, both of which proved he could get it right in his win over Tim Means. Whether he decides to mix it up or make his life easier with regular removals, Muhammad sails to a comfortable victory.
Prediction: Muhammad by unanimous decision
115 lbs: Polyana Viana against Mallory Martin
A dominant victory over Maia Kahaunaele-Stevenson in her Octagon debut apparently put Polyana Viana (11-4) in the foreground, only for the Brazilian to lose her next three matches. She got her back against the wall last August and caught Emily Whitmire in an armrest to keep her Octagon career going.
All of her professional victories came within the distance, seven of which were submitted.
Although her victory in ‘Contender Series’ over Micol di Segni Mallory Martin (7-3) did not earn a contract, she got her Octagon shot four months later by acting on short notice against Virna Jandiroba. It did not go very smoothly as she tapped into a second nude choking, but a second attempt against Hannah Cifers saw Martin finish a second round of her own to earn ‘Performance of the Night’.
She gives an inch of a height and a distance of an inch of ‘Dama de Ferro’.
I invested a lot more in this prediction than the opening fight of the early “Prelims” probably deserves, but it makes me so bad. Both women are deeply flawed in pleasantly compatible ways. Martin, though a strong wrestler and a functional attacker, was almost last instigated by Hannah Cifers. Viana in turn has the submission and natural power to be a contender, but still finds ways to disappoint.
It’s a coin that probably boils down to who performs best.
Oh, screw it up, I’m giving Viana one last chance to impress me – fool me four times, shame on me. She looks like the more capable attacker and is dangerous enough on the ground to possibly deter Martin from the shooting, so she should like her to keep her feet up before securing a club-and-second round.
Prediction: Viana via the second round
UFC 258 has a major event and a few potential firefighters scattered throughout, making for a great fight night. See you Saturday, Maniacs.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 258 fight card here, start with the early ESPN + Prelims matches online, starting at 18:30 ET, and then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN /ESPN + at 20:00 ET, before the PPV main card starts at 22:00 ET ESPN + PPV.
To see the latest and greatest UFC 258: news and notes from “Usman vs. Burns,” be sure to check out our extensive event archive. just here.