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UFC 288 and UFC Charlotte both delivered entertaining cards, and for the seventh week in a row, the promotion is putting together a fight night for fans to enjoy. Housed in the Apex, this UFC Vegas 73 card may not jump out as something to be too excited about, but I will say that there’s a lot of fun fighters that aren’t being talked about.
The main two that aren’t receiving enough hype are Andre Fialho and Edmen Shahbazyan. Respectively hailing from Portugal and California, Fialho and Shahbazyan are both extremely talented fighters who at one point looked to have an endless amount of promise. Before running into Derek Brunson which set his career to a complete halt, Edmen Shahbazyan was a promising middleweight prospect who looked like he was bound to face champion Israel Adesanya one day.
Although he took over a year off and got a win to show for his improvement, Shahbazyan is still 1-3 in his last four. That win was his last time out against Dalcha Lungiambula, which isn’t necessarily the most impressive, but could be a huge step in getting his career back on track. His grappling needed an immense amount of work and was exposed against every single man he lost to, and the time off hopefully helped it. Anthony Hernandez, Shahbazyan’s opponent today, is definitely more than willing to get into a fire fight with Edmen and the one thing Edmen does best is strike. His pace, phenomenal ability, and overall technique make him my personal pick to dominate Hernandez.
Similarly, Andre Fialho is in a very tough spot and needs to get a win to set himself up on an upwards trajectory. After beating Cameron VanCamp, Fialho looked like a promising new addition to the UFC, but with back-to-back losses to Jake Matthews and Muslim Salikhov, his overall record has plummeted to 2-3 in the promotion. I believe that tonight he’ll get back to .500 and show the world his ability hasn’t gone anywhere.
His opponent, Joaquin Buckley, is a solid fighter, but is on a losing streak himself and is very susceptible to getting caught. I trust Fialho’s high-level boxing to catch Buckley first, putting the Portugal native back in the win column.
Who do you have winning tonight? Let me know on Twitter @twsn_sbs
For more UFC content, check out the links below!
–UFC Vegas 73 Full Card Predictions
–Ranking the Best UFC Fights Scheduled for the Remainder of 2023
