UFC Fight Night: Blaydes v Daukaus Prediction, Tips & Offers

The typical wrestler versus striker matchup at heavyweight comes back around this weekend as Curtis Blaydes meets with Chris Daukaus with both men trying to get themselves back into the contention spots amidst a recent tussle from some rising stars in the heavyweight ranks.

Following on from Tom Aspinall's faultless display against Alexander Volkov last week, both men now come into this fight knowing it is an absolute must-win if they are to get recognised as a threat in the division once more. Blaydes is still in fourth and seemingly always one more win away from jumping back into title contention, but after his loss to Derrick Lewis, Daukaus is down in ninth.

Needless to say that Blaydes' way of winning this fight is once again with the wrestling. Despite only winning five of his 15 wins in this manner with the other 10 being TKO/KO victories, the American is still one of the most threatening wrestlers around. In fact, the 6ft 4 former D1 star has still dominated the likes of Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Volkov on the ground within the past two years, and his only real slip up (albeit, a major one) in his pursuit of the title since his loss to Francis Ngannou back in 2018, has been that KO to Lewis.

Daukaus also felt the fury of the "Black Beast" though, as he was also dispatched last time out in round one by Lewis. Still, the black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu will fancy himself on the mat against the blue belt of Blaydes, but with his opponent boasting such incredible strength and technical ability as a wrestler, Daukaus still has to keep this on the feet once again.

Given how it's a five-round fight too, the Philadelphia man needs a TKO/KO, because as long as this goes on, Blaydes will continue to rack up the takedowns and win the rounds. At the same time, Daukaus, just like Blaydes, has only that defeat to Lewis in the past few years top contend with since his move into the UFC, as he beat Parker Porter inside the first round on his debut, before beating Rodrigo Nascimento, Alexey Oleinik, and Shamil Abdurakhimov with a Performance of the Night display soon after.

We're going to tip Blaydes to win this oe on points, however, as he likely takes Daukaus into the deep waters of wrestling once more.

In what is probably the biggest fight outside of the main event in terms of rankings, Askar Askarov meets with Kai Kara France in the flyweight division. The two are likely fighting to face the winner of the Brandon Moreno v Deiveson Figueiredo fourth fight which could be scheduled very soon. Askarov, who actually made his UFC debut against the former champion, Moreno, drew that day to the Mexican but has gone on to dominate Tim Elliot, Alexandre Pantoja, and Joseph Benavidez via a unanimous decision in each fight to extend his unbeaten record to 14 wins and one draw. Kara France last beat the well-known, out-of-form Cody Garbrandt amidst his drop down to flyweight, with the New Zealander completely out-striking the American before a flurry of punches resulted in a fantastic TKO victory in round one. With this fight being so far down on the card, it's easy to forget the importance of this one, but with it also being a three-round affair, we're backing the wrestling experience of the 29-year-old Dagestani to reign supreme here as Kara France's superior boxing ability may come under serious fire early on. Askarov is also the clear favourite at 2/7.

Two of the most experienced heavyweights also battle it out here as Ilir Latifi meets with Aleksei Oleinik. The Sweden star is 38 now and chasing his first victory in almost a year as he narrowly beat Tanner Boser by a split decision victory last June to end a three-fight losing run. Oleinik, a guru of submissions, has stunningly put together 46 victories in this manner within his 76 fights and 59 wins, but he has only managed six of their submission wins in the UFC. He himself is also on a three-fight losing run after losing to Lewis, Daukaus and Sergey Spivak, and is not favoured to win here at 44 years old. Latifi will need to bring the heat here as he hasn't been able to string together convincing wins in some time, and by facing off with an experienced grappler, the Swede really should take his power to the cage in all forms and head for the TKO/KO with Oleinik losing two of his last three fights by the simple fact he was rapidly ambushed by Lewis and Daukaus and couldn't deal with the pressure of strikes.