The third of four consecutive UFC events at “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi comes on Saturday with a vacant flyweight title fight being remade in the main event.
UFC on ESPN + 30 takes place on Saturday at Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The card is broadcast on ESPN +.
(Click here to open a PDF of the Personnel Selection Grid in a separate window.)
In the main event, Deiveson Figueiredo (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) faces Joseph Benavidez (28-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) in a rematch for the vacant 125-pound title. Figueiredo knocked out Benavidez in February, but was not eligible to win the title because he lost weight. But on Friday, he reached the limit of the title fight on the ladder. He is more than a 2-1 favorite, but he is the underdog, Benavidez, with a huge 11-3 lead in the picks of our 14 editors, writers, cameramen and radio broadcasters.
In the co-main event, Kelvin Gastelum (16-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) meets Jack Hermansson (20-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in a middleweight fight. The fight is a pick’em with the punters, but Gastelum has a considerable 9-5 lead from our gatherers.
Also on the main card, Marc Diakiese (14-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) is a -160 favorite in his lightweight fight against Rafael Fiziev (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), and is as close as We have a unanimous election with 13 out of 14 of our staff leading it to win.
Luana Carolina (6-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) faces Ariane Lipski (12-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC) in a women’s flyweight fight that has Lipski as a slight favorite. But she is a great favorite in the selections with 11-3.
And to open the main card, Alexandre Pantoja (22-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC) is more than a 2-1 favorite against Askar Askarov (11-0-1 MMA, 1-0-1 UFC) at flyweight. He hopes to get the next title shot with a win, but he only has an 8-6 pick lead.
In MMA readers consensus elections Junkie, Figueiredo (58 percent), Gastelum (57 percent), Diakiese (78 percent), Lipski (51 percent) and Pantoja (71 percent) are the options.
Take a look at all the previous selections.
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