UFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs Waterson Predictions and Fight Picks

Amazing fight last weekend between Dominick Reyes vs Jiří Procházka. Like a carpenter, I nailed the Whale play last week. Underdog play on the other hand….I missed by a mile. Tough to see Cub get knocked out in a minute.

Everyone wanted to see the return of T.J. Dillashaw, Now Uncle Dana gives us Marina Rodriguez vs Michelle Waterson for the new main event….. Even though we lost some great match ups for the UFC Vegas 26, the remainder of the card has some solid match ups. The Neil vs Neal bowl is a tough one for me. As a rule of thumb I never bet on or against Neil Magny. Every time I bet a Magny fight it goes the other way, plus I never seem to know what type of Magny is going to show up.

Its finals week for me, I tried to get ahead of the game, doing fight pick predictions in advance. No surprise two of the fights get cancelled.

Marina Rodriguez (-215) vs Michelle Waterson (+170)

A 125 catchweight fight, love the match up for Marina Rodriguez. Honestly only way I see Waterson winning this fight is if she uses her wrestling to gas Rodriguez out. Marina Rodriguez put on a dominating performance in her last bout against Amanda Ribas, knocking her out in the second round. Key take away from that fight, Rodriguez takedown defense looked improved against a ground dominate Ribas. Rodriguez holds a 3 inch reach and height advantage over Waterson. Marina Rodriguez is the much better striker in the match up. If I know Michelle Waterson is going to come out and throw her signature side kick, then Rodriguez and her team sure as hell does. So hopefully they have a game plan on how to over come the side kick. Waterson has never been finished in the UFC, if Rodriguez is going to be the first fighter to do it I see the finish coming in rounds 3 or 4. Riding with the better striker here, got to take Rodriguez over Karate Hottie.

Marina Rodriguez (-215)

Amanda Ribas (-180) vs Angela Hill (+150)

Speaking of Amanda Ribas, here we are. If you skipped over the Marina Rodriguez breakdown you missed me saying Amanda Ribas is coming off a knock out loss, pay that no mind. I am still high on Amanda Ribas. She dominated Rodriguez once the fight got to the ground. When Ribas got tagged in the second round, she did not look for the take down, instead she tried to keep trading shots with Rodriguez. She’ll bounce back and learn from that mistake. Angela Hill can be difficult to take down, but once Ribas gets a hold of her this fight will end up on the mat. My one worry with this bet is if Ribas chin will hold up. Angela Hill can throw bombs and if she catches Ribas, could be over. But I like Ribas, think she is going to bounce back with a furious statement win.

Amanda Ribas (-180)

Here we are again with two picks. I had breaks downs for Donald Cerrone vs Diego Sanchez and Cory Sandhagen vs T.J. Dillashaw locked up in the vault, of course two fights that fell through. I tried to plan a little early for this one, should have been a four fight breakdown. One more week of college, then off to the “real world” where I can focus more on Delinquent MMA.