UFC Fight Night: Yan vs. Figueiredo Predictions

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UFC Fight Night 248 takes place on Saturday (AEDT) at the Galaxy Arena in Macau, China 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!

UFC Fight Night 248 Predictions

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Petr Yan vs. Deiveson Figueiredo Prediction

A clash of former champions leads the show, with ex-bantamweight champ Petr Yan set to fight former flyweight king Deiveson Figueiredo.

The 31-year-old Yan suffered a disappointing slump in form a couple of years ago, losing three fights in a row, but in reality he’d been in two close fights against Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley that ended in a split-decision losses, while he’s far from the first fighter to be overcome by current champion Merab Dvalishvili’s wrestling on the scorecards. Yan had since rebounded with a decision win over Song Yadong though and his No.3 ranking confirms his continued importance at the top end of the division. Yan is a talented boxer technician who strikes in combination well with fast hand-speed and sharp accuracy and gradually ramps up his intensity as the fight goes on. He’s also defensively sound and has never been finished in his career. He also has very good takedown defense, wrestles well offensively too, and has excellent cardio.

The 36-year-old Figueiredo has settled into the 135lb division very well since losing his flyweight title in the fourth and final instalment of his memorable series of scraps with Brandon Moreno. Despite being a little undersized for the division, Figueiredo has so far beaten Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt and Marlon Vera to rise into the top 5 rankings. Figueiredo will be 3″ shorter than Yan, but will actually have an extra inch in reach. He’s a skillful striker who blends his punches and kicks together well with solid power, and he has good speed and conditioning for his age. Like Yan he’s accurate and has respectable defense, but he generally doesn’t have as high an offensive output. He mixes things nicely up with takedowns and of the two he’s certainly more of a threat via submission and is good in scrambles too.

Both fighters here are high-level operators so I’d expect an exciting, competitive battle, but as good as Figueiredo is I think Yan is more well-suited to this division and with his offense ramping up as the fight goes on, together with his impressive durability and cardio he’ll gradually gain the upper-hand and emerge with a decision victory.

Prediction: Petr Yan to win by decision.

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Yan Xiaonan vs. Tabatha Ricci Prediction

Yan Xiaonan lost in her strawweight title challenge at UFC 300 and now fights Tabatha Ricci, who is looking for her third win of the year.

Xiaonan managed to go the distance in her lop-sided loss to champion Zhang Weili earlier in the year, though that fight could easily have ended in the last seconds of the opening round when she appeared to lose consciousness for a moment from a choke. She was allowed to continue though and showed her toughness to keep battling on, even finding some success in the third round. The 35-year-old Xiaonan is a good technical kickboxer who has an efficient jab and tends to focus more on speed and output rather than her power. Meanwhile, she can be outwrestled, but she’s hard to finish on the mat.

The 29-year-old Ricci is on the smaller side so she’ll be giving up 3″ in height and 2″ in reach to her opponent here. She’s a reasonably well-rounded fighter who has worked on her striking to present a capable boxing game with good movement and output, albeit with very little in the way of a finishing threat. Meanwhile, Ricci is quite strong for her size and has solid judo, so she likes to clinch up and can work for takedowns. She also has good BJJ, though only three of her 11 victories have come via strikes, with the vast majority of her fights ending by decision.

I think Xiaonan will be able to keep Ricci on the end of her strikes here for the most part in order to emerge with a decision victory.

Prediction: Yan Xiaonan to win by decision.

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Song Kenan vs. Muslim Salikhov Prediction

Song Kenan comes in off a win in August to fight Muslim Salikhov, who has gone 1-1 so far this year.

The 34-year-old Kenan is a striker who is capable of delivering thunderous power at times, although despite having demonstrated that frequently on the regional circuit with early finishes and also at the start of his UFC run, he’s not been as effective with it in recent years and can be hindered by a lack of activity at times. Meanwhile, Kenan’s striking defence is less convincing, including suffering two defeats by strikes during a 2-3 run in his last five fights. Kenan can also be a submission threat, but it is possible to outgrapple him.

A KO loss for the 40-year-old Salikhov in early 2024, his third loss in four fights via strikes, seemed to suggest he was running out of steam, but a split-decision victory over Santiago Ponzinibbio proved the veteran still has something to offer. Known as the ‘King Of Kung Fu’, Sailkhov is a shrewd striker who does a good job of picking his shots, whether that’s with accurate punches, versatile kicks or the occasional spinning technique. Salikhov also has an underrated wrestling game that he can bring into play at times. His age is catching up to him though and that’s noticeable in terms of his output and particularly his durability, with the only two losses via strikes on his record coming in his last five fights.

Kenan’s power means he’s always got a chance, but though Salikhov is older and not as durable as he once was he’s still a crafty technician who makes his strikes count, and so I’ll take him to edge this one out by decision.

Prediction: Muslim Salikhov to win by decision.

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Wang Cong vs. Gabriella Fernandes Prediction

Wang Cong earned a KO victory in her UFC debut in August to go 6-0 in her career, and now she’ll fight Garbriella Fernandes who started her Octagon run with two losses, but has since picked up a split-decision win in June.

There’s already more interest around the 32-year-old Cong than your average ‘Road To UFC’ recruit, partly because she holds a 2015 kickboxing win over current flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. In addition to her broad combat sports experience, Cong also caught people’s eye when she lived up to her ‘Joker’ nickname by dressing up like him for the weigh-ins prior to her UFC debut, and then proved she could actually back up those kind of antics by KO’ing her opponent in 62 seconds. Based on her history the reality is that people shouldn’t expect her to be picking up KO’s left, right and center, but she is a sound technical striker, and a couple of submission wins on her way to the UFC show she’s not a complete fish-out-of-water on the mat.

The 31-year-old Fernandes is a former LFA fighter who has a kickboxing style too, but doesn’t have Cong’s credentials in that regard. Since she’s arrived in the UFC her ground game has looked suspect, particularly in terms of her wrestling.

Cong is a huge favorite here and I think that will prove to be justified as she’s the sharper, more technical striker, is high on confidence and will have the home advantage, leading her to a second round TKO victory.

Prediction: Wang Cong to win by TKO in Rd2.

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Volkan Oezdemir vs. Carlos Ulberg Prediction

Volkan Oezdemir comes in off back-to-back victories to fight Carlos Ulberg, who is making a name for himself after going winning six UFC fights in a row.

Fast-tracked to a title shot early in his UFC run after some big wins, the 35-year-old Oezdemir hasn’t really been able to live up to that early hype in the years since, but is still ranked No.8 in the division. He’s an experienced, pressure-based kickboxer with solid fundamentals and good power, but he doesn’t push the highest pace and can settle in for just a steady level of output at times. He has assured takedown defense and can operate on the mat when required, but it’s not his preferred option.

The 34-year-old Ulberg is also a kickboxer with good athleticism and he’ll have an extra 3″ in height and 2″ in reach to work with here. He’s a striker with good speed, attacking with precision from range and has proven to be a fast-starter with big power after notching up four wins via strikes in the 1st round during his current winning streak. Ulberg was a little green on mat when he first joined the UFC a few years ago, but he’s clearly worked on that since and has shown more promising signs since.

Ulberg is clearly the in-form fighter here and there seems to be more spark and energy to his striking game at this stage in their respective careers, so I’ll say he does enough to win on the scorecards, though he’ll have to be wary of Oezdemir potentially being the fresher fighter late in the fight.

Prediction: Carlos Ulberg to win by decision.

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Zhang Mingiang vs. Ozzy Diaz Prediction

Zhang Mingyang earned a quick KO victory in his UFC debut earlier in the year and now opens up the main card against Ozzy Diaz, who will be making his debut after racking up back-to-back wins in the LFA promotion this year.

The 26-year-old Mingyang holds a 17-6 record and during his time on the Chinese regional scene had become a notable finisher, with every one of his fights ending inside the distance by either strikes or submission. That level of competition can be deceiving though, but to his credit when he took a spot on the ‘Road To UFC: Singapore’ line-up in 2022 he also finished his opponent there by 1st round KO, and made an immediate impact in his UFC debut back in February with another swift knockout victory. With that kind of power Mingyang is eager to let his fists fly, but isn’t so concerned with his own defense, so he will eat shots along the way, and that has cost him at times, having been KO’d twice and TKO’d once over the years, as well as three submission defeats. That being said, his current 10-fight winning streak extends back almost five years.

The 33-year-old Diaz actually attempted to join the UFC via the Contender Series back in the summer of 2022, but was TKO’d by Joe Pyfer, who has since gone on to establish himself in the promotion. He was out of action for some time after that, but has since won the UFC brass over with a KO and TKO win in LFA. He’ll be the bigger man on Saturday courtesy of a 2″ height and 4″ reach advantage, and like Mingyang he’s primarily a striker with a knack for stopping opponents, with all nine of his wins coming inside the distance, including seven via strikes. He uses his frame to strike from distance and is calculated about when he goes on the attack. Even so he can be hurt and has had to battle back from adversity at times to win.

Diaz’s chin is a bit questionable, and given how hard Mingyang hits that could be a problem when things get heated early in this fight, so I’ll take Mingyang to win by a 1st round TKO stoppage.

Prediction: Zhang Mingyang to win by TKO in Rd1.

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UFC Fight Night 248 Prelims

(Predicted winners in bold)

Xie Bin vs. Zhu Kangjie
Baergeng Jieleyisi vs. You Su-young
Kiru Singh Sahota vs. Choi Dong-hun
Shi Ming vs. Feng Xiaocan
Nyamjargal Tumendemberel vs. Carlos Hernandez
Lone’er Kavanagh vs. Jose Ochoa
Xiao Long vs. Quang Le
Maheshate Hayisaer vs. Nikolas Motta