2023 has reached its midpoint as our MMASucka staff picks prepare for the final six months of the season.
Summer’s first pay-per-view sees an incredibly stacked card with UFC 290 taking place tonight, July 8th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Early preliminaries are available to watch on UFC Fight Pass at 6:00pm ET (3:00pm PT) followed by the regular preliminary card at 8:00pm ET (5:00pm PT) on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN+. The five-fight, pay-per-view portion kicks off at 10:00pm ET (7:00pm PT) available for purchase to ESPN+ subscribers.
UFC 290: Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez live results will be available here at MMASucka.
The Fights
Headlining the night ahead sees the UFC Featherweight Championship on the line between current divisional champion Alexander Volkanovski and current interim title holder Yair Rodriguez.
Four-time defending Volkanovski hopes to make it number five as he returns to 145 pounds following an attempt in February at becoming a two-divisional champion. Despite losing a back-and-forth decision to current lightweight king Islam Makhachev, the Australian has won all but two of his 27 professional fights in mixed martial arts as he looks to further establish his created legacy. Volkanovski’s opponent, Rodriguez, took the interim title with his second-round submission over Josh Emmett earlier this year. The matchup comes as his first for the actual belt through 14 fights with the promotion as The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America winner from 2014 targets to become Mexico’s third champion in UFC history.
A second title fight will take place between Brandon Moreno and Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC Flyweight Championship in the co-main event. The fight comes as a rematch after their May of 2018 fight where Pantoja secured a three-round unanimous decision.
Mexico’s first title victor, two-time champion Moreno, aims for three straight victories after winning the interim 125-pound belt over Kai Kara-France in July of last year and closing his quadrilogy with Deiveson Figueiredo last January to start his second championship reign. The Ultimate Fighter 24 semifinalist and former RFA Flyweight Champion, Pantoja, gets his first opportunity at gold riding a dominant three-fight win streak including submission wins in his most recent meetings over Brandon Royval and Alex Perez.
UNDISPUTED GOLD IS ON THE LINE 🏆@AlexVolkanovski and @PanteraUFC for the featherweight title tomorrow at #UFC290!
[ Live on @ESPNPlus PPV: https://t.co/NRMgHzXZ9Z ] pic.twitter.com/ufSkGcabMC
— UFC (@ufc) July 7, 2023
In a title elimination bout for the UFC’s middleweight division, The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes winner and former undisputed 185-pound Champion Robert Whittaker will take on the seven-fight win streak of former two-divisional EFC Champion and former KSW Welterweight Champion Dricus du Plessis.
Looking to steal the show sees a thrilling matchup between dangerous lightweights Jalin Turner and Dan Hooker who combined share an 88% finishing rate through their 35 total victories. Turner hopes to rebound after dropping a split decision to Mateusz Gamrot in March as Hooker looks for his second straight win after snapping a two-fight skid with his November of 2022 stoppage over Claudio Puelles. The two will contest at a catchweight of 158 pounds after Turner missed the divisional mark by two pounds.
Opening the pay-per-view sees a pairing of undefeated middleweight talents as former NCAA Division I wrestler and freestyle wrestler Bo Nickal set for his second UFC fight against former Combat Night Middleweight Champion Val Woodburn in his promotional debut. Woodburn steps in on less than one week’s notice for an injured Tresean Gore.
Although not counted towards our staff picks, Robbie Lawler will contend in his final MMA fight in what will be his 47th match and 25th UFC appearance on the preliminary headliner against Niko Price.
Find our staff picks for UFC 290: Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez further below.
2023 Staff Picks
MMASucka staff picks are composed of five promotions: the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator MMA, ONE Championship, the Professional Fighters League (PFL), and Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS). UFC and Bellator events feature picks from only main cards. PFL will feature select fights from the main and preliminary card while DWCS sees all fights counted from the event. ONE Championship returns to picks for the first time since 2020 and will feature only mixed martial arts (MMA) fights selected from cards with a minimum three matchups.
The WINNER of staff picks at the end of 2023, who picked the most victorious fighters, will have a choice between receiving a custom-made championship belt from ProAmBelts or a chain from Championship Chains. Staff picks in 2022 was won by Wesley Riddle with a record of 264-135.
Who is picked and predicted to win at UFC 290: Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez?
MMASucka’s 2022 Championship Belt (courtesy of ProAmBelts).
Staff Records after UFC on ABC 5:
1. Michael DeSantis: 151-72
2. Ben Jamieson: 150-73
3. Nate Freeman: 146-77
4. Jeremy Brand: 145-78
5. Frazer Krohn: 144-79
6. Wesley Riddle: 143-80
7. Julio Monteros Jr.: 128-73
8. Jack Goodwillie: 118-64
9. Andrew Benjamin: 110-88
10. Brian Knight: 109-59
11. Tim Wheaton: 105-60
12. Roemello Reyes: 62-34
13. Jonathan Andrade: 29-21
14. Brandon Joint: 12-9
15. Andrew Benjamin: 10-7
16. Joshua Yule: 7-6
*Note – not all staff pick for every event*
Bo Nickal (4-0), -1800
vs.
Val Woodburn (7-0), +1000
Middleweight Division
– 185 LBS. ~ 83.9 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Wesley Riddle: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Michael DeSantis: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Andrew Benjamin: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Frazer Krohn: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Nate Freeman: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Julio Monteros Jr.: Nickal via Round 2 SUB
Brian Knight: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Jack Goodwillie: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Ben Jamieson: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Jonathan Andrade: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Antywn Jackson: Nickal via Round 1 SUB
Staff picking Nickal: 12
Staff picking Woodburn: 0
Jalin Turner (14-6), -285
vs.
Dan Hooker (22-12), +240
Catchweight Fight
– 158 LBS. ~ 71.7 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Turner via Unanimous Decision
Wesley Riddle: Turner via Round 1 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Turner via Round 2 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Hooker via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Turner via Round 2 TKO
Nate Freeman: Turner via Round 2 TKO
Julio Monteros Jr.: Turner via Round 2 TKO
Brian Knight: Turner via Round 2 TKO
Jack Goodwillie: Hooker via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Turner via Round 2 TKO
Jonathan Andrade: Turner via Round 3 TKO
Antywn Jackson: Turner via Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Turner: 10
Staff picking Hooker: 2
Robert Whittaker (25-6), -375
vs.
Dricus du Plessis (19-2), +285
Middleweight Division
– 185 LBS. ~ 83.9 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Whittaker via Unanimous Decision
Wesley Riddle: Whittaker via Round 2 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Whittaker via Round 3 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Whittaker via Split Decision
Frazer Krohn: Whittaker via Round 3 TKO
Nate Freeman: Whittaker via Unanimous Decision
Julio Monteros Jr.: Whittaker via Unanimous Decision
Brian Knight: Whittaker via Unanimous Decision
Jack Goodwillie: Whittaker via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Whittaker via Round 3 TKO
Jonathan Andrade: Whittaker via Split Decision
Antywn Jackson: Whittaker via Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Whittaker: 12
Staff picking du Plessis: 0
Brandon Moreno (21-6-2), -205
vs.
Alexandre Pantoja (25-5), +175
Flyweight Divisional Championship
– Co-Main Event –
– 125 LBS. ~ 56.7 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Moreno via Round 2 SUB
Wesley Riddle: Moreno via Split Decision
Michael DeSantis: Moreno via Split Decision
Andrew Benjamin: Moreno via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Pantoja via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Moreno via Split Decision
Julio Monteros Jr.: Moreno via Round 3 TKO
Brian Knight: Moreno via Round 4 TKO
Jack Goodwillie: Moreno via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Moreno via Unanimous Decision
Jonathan Andrade: Moreno via Round 3 SUB
Antywn Jackson: Moreno via Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Moreno: 11
Staff picking Pantoja: 1
Alexander Volkanovski (25-2), -380
vs.
Yair Rodriguez (16-3, 1 NC), +290
Featherweight Divisional Championship
– Main Event –
– 145 LBS. ~ 65.8 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Volkanovski via Unanimous Decision
Wesley Riddle: Volkanovski via Round 4 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Volkanovski via Unanimous Decision
Andrew Benjamin: Volkanovski via Round 2 TKO
Frazer Krohn: Volkanovski via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Volkanovski via Unanimous Decision
Julio Monteros Jr.: Volkanovski via Unanimous Decision
Brian Knight: Volkanovski via Unanimous Decision
Jack Goodwillie: Volkanovski via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Volkanovski via Round 4 TKO
Jonathan Andrade: Volkanovski via Round 2 TKO
Antywn Jackson: Volkanovski via Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Volkanovski: 12
Staff picking Rodriguez: 0
