UFC 327: Prochazka vs. Ulberg Predictions

UFC 327: Prochazka vs. Ulberg takes place on Sunday (AEDT) at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, United States. – and we’ve got our UFC predictions for all the fights below, and you can place your bets with the best betting sites Australia has to offer!

Jiri Prochazka vs. Carlos Ulberg Prediction

Former light-heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka earned back-to-back wins via strikes last year and now fights for the vacant 205lb title against Carlos Ulberg, who is on a nine-fight winning streak in the Octagon.

The 33-year-old Prochazka is the very definition of a fearless warrior as he always goes into battle looking for a finish by any means necessary, and is prepared to risk his own personal safety to achieve that goal. He’s a striker who often seems to be making it up as he goes along, pressing the action and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at his opponents. And despite his unorthodox style and technique he’s proven to have the killer instinct as 31 of his 32 career wins have come inside the distance, including no less than 28 by strikes. There’s big power in his punches, but Prochazka also has finished fights by everything from flying knees to head kicks and spinning elbows over the years. Prochazka is so offensively minded that his defense is often an afterthought, relying mainly on his toughness and never-say-die attitude to outlast his opponents long enough to land a finishing blow himself. And somehow, despite that high-risk approach, only Alex Pereira has managed to finish him in the past decade, doing so on two separate occasions.

The 35-year-old Ulberg initially competed in pro-kickboxing, but then turned his attention fully to MMA and was quickly picked up by the UFC. He got off to a bad start with a KO loss to Kennedy Nzechukwu, but has gone undefeated in the five years since then. There’s an argument to be made that he’s not faced the stiffest competition, with his biggest wins coming against the likes of former champ Jan Blachowicz, who is well into his 40’s, and Dominick Reyes, whose chin has been a major concern for years. Still, Ulberg has performed well, showing off an athletic, technical kickboxing game that’s combined speed, power and precision to deliver five stoppage wins in nine UFC wins so far. Ulberg has tried to add to his ground game during his time in the UFC, but for the most part he relies on his sturdy takedown defense to keep the action upright.

This feels like a fight that’s guaranteed to be a thriller for as long as it goes, and with the weapons at their disposal it really could go either way. Prochazka’s potent, unpredictable striking and ability to fight through adversity could be big factors, but every time he steps into the Octagon it feels like he’s walking a tightrope with his defensive liabilities, and so I’ll take the less reckless, but still hard-hitting Ulberg to punish him for that by delivering a 3rd round TKO finish.

Carlos Ulberg to win by TKO in Rd3

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Azamat Murzakanov vs. Paulo Costa Prediction

Azamat Murzakanov is undefeated in his 16-0 career, including six wins in the UFC, while Paulo Costa comes off only his second win in the last five years.

Murzakanov doesn’t look like the most daunting light-heavyweight, standing just 5ft 10″ with a 71″ reach and non-chiselled physique. Appearances can be deceiving though as the 36-year-old has proven to be a serious weapon on the feet with 12 of his 16 career wins coming via strikes, including including stoppages in five of his six UFC fights. He’s primarily boxing based and has the know-how to navigate his way into range against bigger opponents to land punches with both power and precision, while still remaining defensively sound. He also has solid takedown defense, but only has one submission win on the mat.

The story for a long time has been that Costa’s been a shadow of his former self, turning in a number of lackluster performances as the prime years of a promising career dwindled away. However, prior to his last fight against Roman Kopylov he vowed to get back to the more aggressive, offensively-minded mentality that took him to a title shot back in 2020, and to an extent he succeeded with a good performance that earned him a decision victory. The only thing missing was a finish, as back in his heyday he’d showed off his power by stopping four fights in a row via TKO. Nonetheless the signs were promising, but while the 34-year-old is certainly capable technically and physically, it remains hard to trust him to be consistent and fully-focused mentally from one fight to the next.

Costa’s last performance means he shouldn’t be overlooked here, but I trust Murzakanov more with his consistency, composure and ruthless efficiency in the Octagon, though he may have to settle for a decision win this time out.

Azamat Murzakanov to win by decision

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Curtis Blaydes vs. Josh Hokit Prediction

Curtis Blaydes comes in off a split-decision victory last year to fight Josh Hokit, who has started off his UFC run with two wins to go 8-0 in his career overall.

Though he’s won considerably more fights than he’s lost in the UFC over the past decade, the 35-year-old Blaydes has made an unfortunate habit of falling at the final hurdle, either by losing out in title eliminators, or most recently being KO’d by Tom Aspinall in an interim title challenge. And it seems the promotion are now pumping the brakes on him getting a route back into the title picture as he faced unranked newcomer Rizvan Kuniev last time out, and now fights another fighter outside the top 15 in Hokit. Still, Blaydes continues to be a strong wrestler with good takedowns and excellent control on top, who has also has impactful ground-and-pound too. On the other hand, Blaydes striking game lacks a cutting edge, though he does have respectable boxing technique and moves well. His biggest problem has been his durability though as all five of his career losses have coming in the UFC due to strikes.

The 28-year-old Hokit started out his sporting career in American Football, competing as a fullback for the 49’ers practice squad for a couple of years and then the Arizona Cardinals before turning his attention to MMA after being released in 2022. Hokit already had a wrestling base as an All-American in college and took to his new sport well with winning spells in the Bellator and LFA promotions prior to reaching he UFC, though the truth is Hokit still hasn’t really faced any significant opposition yet. He’s on the smaller side for a heavyweight at 6ft 1″, 235lbs with a 73″ reach, but his natural athleticism is a plus-point to go alongside his wrestling, and he’s managed to stop all his fights so far inside the distance, including three by submission.

Blaydes has been considered one of the best wrestlers in the division for years, and he’s the bigger man too, so Hokit’s best weapon is unlikely to be effective here. And while Blaydes chin is a real cause for concern, he still has the better striking fundamentals here, along with an extra 3″ in height and significant 7″ reach advantage, which will enable him to work the jab from range and carefully secure a win on the scorecards.

Curtis Blaydes to win by decision

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Dominick Reyes vs. Johnny Walker Prediction

Dominick Reyes was KO’d by this event’s headliner Carlos Ulberg inside a round last time out, ending a three-fight winning streak. Now he moves on to fight Johnny Walker, who has bounced back from two KO losses with a TKO win over Zhang Mingyang last year.

In his heyday back in 2020 Reyes gave Jon Jones one of his toughest 205lb title defenses, but that close decision loss marked the start of a four-fight losing slump, dropping the other three bouts via strikes. Reyes took an extended layoff after that as some feared he was now washed-up, but he returned in style in 2024, racking up three wins via T(KO) to get back on track. The caveat though was that this run had come against other struggling veterans, and so being knocked out by the in-form Ulberg last time out has quickly brought back doubts about his durability. Now 36, Reyes is beyond his prime years, but he still has good athleticism and footwork to help aid his explosive power punches and good kicking game. He’s also able to compete in the clinch, can wrestle too and has respectable cardio.

The 34-year-old Walker is a large light-heavyweight at 6ft 5″ with a vast 82″ reach who is at heart a wild, dynamic, unorthodox striker who can finish fights with all eight of his lengthy limbs. He’s prone to being reckless though and leaving his chin exposed, which has been a consistent thorn in his flesh as he’s been finished six time in his career via strikes, including 3 KO defeats in the UFC. At times Walker has tried to fight more carefully and methodically, but that’s never been a comfortable fit for him and so tended to either nullify his striking threat, or was simply abandoned in the heat of the moment. As such he continues to be an unpredictable Jekyll and Hyde fighter who is capable of big highlight-reel wins, but can also just as easily fall victim to them.

Given their striking prowess and weak chins a finish could come at any moment here, but it’s hard to back either man with much confidence. However, Reyes is naturally the more disciplined striker here and I think that may give him the edge to capitalize on Walker’s defensive lapses, leading him to a 2nd round KO victory.

Dominick Reyes to win by KO in Rd2

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Cub Swanson vs. Nate Landwehr Prediction

15 months after a KO win, Cub Swanson returns for one final fight against Nate Landwehr, who is coming off back-to-back defeats by strikes.

By fighting on Saturday night at the ripe old age of 42, Swanson will go down in the history books as the last fighter from the fondly remembered WEC promotion to still compete in the Octagon. Swanson’s has always been an exciting striker to watch with his speed, versatile striking arsenal and offensive mind-set, while even last time we saw him in December of 2024 he was still impressively athletic and dynamic for his age en-route to delivering a 3rd round knockout finish. Inevitably he’s not quite as fast or relentless as he used to be though, and that may be more evident on Saturday night, while his submission defense has always been a weak point, even if he does have decent offensive wrestling and scrambling ability.

Landwehr is a fun action fighter who is lacking technically, but packs a punch and is always willing to get into a scrap. His tendency to be reckless offensively and trust in his heart and toughness to be his main line of defense has always been a major flaw though, and it’s caught up to him lately with TKO and KO losses in his last two appearances. Unfortunately that’s nothing new for Landwehr as his UFC run began with 1st round KO and TKO losses in his first three fights back in 2020-2021, before reigning things in a little on the feet and showing off some decent submission ability to steady the ship for a while. However, his form has crashed again since, and at 37-years-old he’s running out of time to turn things around.

Swanson’s age and inactivity means I’m not picking him with confidence here, but he’s always looked after himself physically, is certainly the superior striker technically here, and is no stranger to being in a scrap, so I’ll take him to gradually pick apart Landwehr here, hurt him along the way and emerge with one last decision victory.

Cub Swanson to win by decision

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UFC 327: Prochazka vs. Ulberg Prelims

(Predicted winners in bold)

Patricio Freire vs. Aaron Pico
Kevin Holland vs. Randy Brown
Mateusz Gamrot vs. Esteban Ribovics
Tatiana Suarez vs. Lupita Godinez
Chris Padilla vs. MarQuel Mederos
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Vicente Luque
Charles Radtke vs. Francisco Prado

MMA Writer

Ross Cole

Ross Cole is one of the most prolific mixed martial arts writers in the world.

Having written more than 22,000 MMA news stories for MMA Insight, which he founded in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts.

Few people know the UFC and the sport of MMA like Ross, and he has built a solid reputation for being one of the best MMA tipsters in the world.

You can read more of Ross's work at MMAInsight.com.