UFC 256 Preview, Odds, Prediction

The UFC 256 brings some very interesting matchups, and we will run over the most notable fights of the main card in this article, trying to make a preview and usable predictions.

Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno

Figueiredo (-330) is a beast, an animal, a living tornado. This guy is demolishing anyone that stands in his way, with his high-intensity appearance and energetic bursts. Extremely powerful punches for a flyweight fighter are something that gives him a huge advantage over any opponent.

Moreno (+260) is an excellent grappler who recently added a few good skills when it comes to his boxing and striking arsenal. Meanwhile, 10 of his 18 wins came via submission, which tells a lot what his main area is here. However, against Figueiredo, he has no chances at all. The God of War is simply unstoppable here.

Pick: Figueiredo via stoppage

Tony Ferguson vs. Charles Oliveira

El Cucuy (-170) is coming back, and that makes us all happy. The lightweight veteran needs to erase the loss against Justin Gaethje and shut down all the critics who suggest that his time passed. One defeat, regardless of who was across the ring doesn’t have to imply anything like this.

Ferguson’s rival is one of the legends when it comes to statistics. Oliveira (+145)holds the UFC record in submission wins and is tied with Cowboy Cerrone in stoppage wins. However, he doesn’t have a big name in his CV, losing against all the high-caliber opponents. Combining this and Ferguson’s huge motive to clear his name, we haven’t got any doubts that El Cucuy wins this one.

Pick: Ferguson via stoppage

Mackenzie Dern vs. Virna Jandiroba

Dern’s (-190) stellar Jiu-Jitsu career was replaced with the UFC challenges, and so far, she is doing just fine. Dern has a 9-1 record, with that single loss coming to Amanda Ribas some three months following her giving birth to her daughter. We’re sure that you didn’t know any of this.

On the other side, Jandiroba (+160) was the former Invicta FC strawweight champion, having 14 wins in a row, and after debuting in the UFC with a loss to Carla Esparza, she bounced back with two straight wins. Both girls are fantastic grapplers, and they tend to take the bout to the ground. Hear this out, neither of them has a KO victory. In this particular case, we are giving the edge to Jandiroba, despite her being the underdog. The experience is on her side, and from our point of view, she looks more agile than Dern.

Pick: Jandiroba

Kevin Holland vs. Ronaldo Souza

Holland (-105) is finally in the octagon, following his step down from the UFC Fight Night’s headliner against Jack Hermansson. A superb kick-boxer whose discipline and tactics have always presented a problem for himself is coming into this one with four straight wins. Though a huge question mark stands above his head once talking about grappling.

That is a very unfortunate circumstance for him because Jacare (-115) is a specialist in this area. The 41-year old veteran is fantastic on the ground, and the majority of his wins came via submission. Though we haven’t seen him in the octagon for more than a year, and ring rust will be his biggest trouble.

Junior dos Santos vs. Cyril Gane

For us, this is the most exciting match of the entire card. dos Santos (+320) has three straight losses, all of them coming via KO, the last one in August this year against Rozenstruik, in a match that didn’t look that would end with JDS’s defeat. The former heavyweight champ is looking for his final chance to head on a quest towards the title shot, but he isn’t doing well lately.

Gayne (-400) is a massive favorite here. Many experts see him as the future title holder due to his massive power and versatility inside the octagon. Gane knows how to submit the opponent, to go to the distance and knockout. However, he lacks experience, something dos Santos has plenty of. It is because of this that we predict an upset here. For three straight events, JDS didn’t win, suffering hard defeats. We believe that it is time for him to bounce back now.

Pick: dos Santos