UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Spivak Picks

Danny Roberts vs. Jack Della Maddalena
 

A fantastic fight between Jack Della Maddalena and Danny Roberts kicks off the main card as Maddalena looks to make it 13 wins in a row in MMA at the age of 26. 

The Australian has barely put a foot wrong in MMA so far, despite losing his first two professional bouts. This does mean Maddalena has gone on to win his last 12 matchups, however, and he has done nothing but impressive in his first two UFC fights. His debut saw a sensational counter left hook knockout against Pete Rodriguez in round one back in January before a magnificent liver shot ended Ramazan Emeev in round one in his second UFC fight.

Roberts may come into this fight with heaps more experience, but we don’t see how he wins here at +420. The Englishman has managed to win only seven of his 12 UFC fights, which although far from a bad record, Roberts has lost to fighters like Emeev who Maddelana has beaten with relative ease. He’s also been finished in four of those five losses and we think this will be an easy night for Maddalena.
 

Jack Della Maddalena by KO/TKO is -180 with  FanDuel.

Andrew Fialho vs. Muslim Salikhov 

Two excellent strikers will battle here as Muslim Salikhov and Andre Fialho bring to the table a combined 25 victories via TKO/KO from a total of 43 fights. 

Salikhov is now 38, however, and heads into this fight in what is set to be his 221st professional combat sports outing in either kickboxing or MMA. From his kickboxing days, he did win a stunning 185 of his 199 bouts, and with just three losses on his MMA record, there is very little to suggest he won't win again here.

The Russian did, however, lose via TKO against Li Jingliang in his last fight, but this did come after a previous five-fight winning run in the UFC since his debut loss to Alex Garcia.

Fialho will back himself in the power department in this fight. He may have been knocked out by Jake Matthews in his last bout, but in stopping Cameron VanCamp and Miguel Baeza in his two fights before that recent loss, he earned two Performance of the Night bonuses and registered his 15th and 16th wins in professional MMA from 22 matches.

When two strikers like this meet, judges are often needed. We think the fight will go the distance here.

Andre Fialho and Muslim Salikhov to go the distance is +144 with FanDuel.

Chase Sherman vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta

After shining in his UFC debut to make it eight wins from eight MMA fights, Waldo Cortes-Acosta is back in action just under a month since his unanimous decision win over Jared Vanderaa. 

When Cortes-Acosta steps out into the octagon on Saturday night, it will mean one of the quickest turnarounds between a UFC debut and a fighter’s second fight. In fact, with just 20 days passing between the two, the Panamanian is once again the heavy favorite at -220. He is also at +100 to get another knockout, although he did win his UFC debut via decision. 

That decision win was still a convincing one, but it was just his third victory in that manner. What makes "Salsa Boy" such a tricky opponent is the physical capabilities of the man. At 6' 4", Cortes-Acosta is one of the few men who can match Chase Sherman in the height category, and with the American only boasting of a blue belt in jiu-jitsu, this one is set to come down to whoever is the superior striker.

Sherman has managed to win 15 of his 16 wins via a TKO/KO, but in losing four in a row just prior to his latest win back in July, there is little hope for him right now. On the other hand, while Cortes-Acosta could only get the points to win against Vanderaa, Sherman managed to knock him out back in July.

We still think Waldo Cortes-Acosta will win.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta by KO/TKO with FanDuel. 

Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Ion Cutelaba

A co-main event that has the entertainment value of the main showpiece sees Ion Cutelaba get another try at trying to test the UFC light heavyweight rankings against Kennedy Nzechukwu.

Both men are famed for their knockouts, as Nzechukwu has managed to win seven of his 10 victories via TKO/KO, with his most recent in this regard being a brutal elbow against Karl Roberson. The Nigerian also beat Danilo Marques from punches in a Performance of the Night win just over a year ago, but losing to Nicolae Negumereanu and Da Un Jung, it does now mean he has only four wins and three losses in his UFC career.

Cutelaba, however, is on thin ice with the UFC. His constant desire to get into striking trades with his opponent makes his fights very interesting, but this has also seen him only win five of his 13 fights in the UFC, which is one of the worst runs amongst those on the current roster. Worse yet, he lost via submission in his last two fights, as Johnny Walker and Ryan Spann forced the tap.

It’s a tough fight to predict, but Cutelaba is just nowhere near as good as he was made out to be all them years ago.
 

Kennedy Nzechukwu by KO/TKO is +115 with FanDuel.

Derrick Lewis vs. Sergey Spivak
 

Derrick Lewis will be aiming to have one more pop at a title run when he meets with the rising heavyweight contender, Sergey Spivak.

Spivak is 27 now and entering his 10th UFC bout in what has been a topsy-turvy time for the Moldovan. A defeat to Walt Harris on his debut in the first round must have been a harsh reality check for him, but by beating Tai Tuivasa via submission in his next right, he instantly redeemed himself. Further losses to Marcin Tybura and Tom Aspinall have raised more questions about his striking, which does not bode well for him against such a ferocious hitter like Lewis. On the other hand, Spivak has TKO'd his last two opponents, meaning his victories over Greg Hardy and Augusto Sakai mean an unbeaten 2022 so far.

After facing and losing to Aspinall, this is easily Spivak’s biggest test in MMA. Lewis has been on a downward spiral in recent times, beating only Chris Daukaus since his sensational Performance of the Night KO over title contender, Curtis Blaydes. Lewis looked terrible in his interim heavyweight title fight loss to Ciryl Gane, and he was knocked out by Tuivasa and then TKO'd by Sergei Pavlovich a few months back.

The blueprint for winning with Lewis is simple: hit the other opponent as hard as you can and hope he falls. It’s so far worked 21 times from 37 fights, and we think he'll get another TKO/KO here and make it 22 in his illustrious MMA career.

Derrick Lewis by KO/TKO is +230 with FanDuel.

Jabs

These are some other bets worth a look at on this week’s schedule: