As we wait for the May 6th blockbuster in New Jersey, the UFC will be back this Saturday at the Apex in Vegas. Henry Cejudo will look to take the strap from Aljamin Sterling that night in the UFC 288 main event at the Prudential Center. No titles are on the line this Saturday at the Apex. This weekend’s main event features two top-ten bantamweights looking to climb the ladder.
Eighth-ranked Yadong Song will take on tenth-ranked Ricky Simon. Simon is coming in on a five-fight win streak. Song is coming off his toughest fight yet, losing his last bout against Cory Sandhagen via doctor stoppage late in the fight after being up on the judges’ scorecards. At just 25 years old, Song gained a ton of experience in that last fight. He proved he can hang with the top five while being able to go into the championship rounds for the first time in his career. Simon is a very well-rounded fighter. His last three wins have come by three different methods of victory. This has the potential to be Fight of the Night. Look for Song to bounce back and win in a tough decision.
The Main Card
A fight on the main card to look out for is between Middleweights Cody Brundage and Rodolfo Viera. Both fighters are coming off losses to two worthy opponents. Brundage and Viera both love to get the fight to the mat. Brundage is the younger fighter and shows that in a few of his fights. He lets his ego get to him when trying to strike instead of using his excellent wrestling. The good thing for Brundage in this fight is he will not be facing a striker. Brundage at +220 is too good of value to not take a look at.
Another fight to look forward to is the heavyweight clash between undefeated Waldo Cortes-Acosta and veteran Marcos Rogerio de Lima. Cortes-Acosta has been on cruise control for his first three wins in the UFC. He has not faced the caliber of fighters de Lima has fought. Marcos de Lima is coming off an impressive first-round win over Andrei Arlovski. Cortes-Acosta might be the best volume striker the heavyweight division has seen. The only problem with this is he relies too heavily on his jab. A guy like de Lima with huge size can eat that up. I believe Cortes-Acosta will implement a better game plan coming into this fight and remain undefeated.
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