MMASucka staff picks wraps up its calendar year with a loaded night of fights.
UFC 296 will go down later tonight, December 16th, from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This comes as the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s 43rd card of 2023 and 27th company event from the Sin City venue. Early preliminary fights kick off at 6:00pm ET (3:00pm PT) on UFC Fight Pass followed by televised prelims at 8:00pm ET (5:00pm PT) on ESPN 2 and, for subscribers, on ESPN+. The main card will begin at 10:00pm ET (7:00pm PT) on pay-per-view (available for purchase through ESPN+).
Results from UFC 296: Edwards vs. Covington will be available here at MMASucka.
The Fights
The night’s featured headliner will see a grudge match between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington for the UFC Welterweight Championship.
Edwards returns for the second time of 2023 after earning his first title defense over Kamaru Usman by majority decision in March; the very same opponent he took the welterweight belt from after his stunning fifth-round, head-kick knockout in August of last year. The well-rounded talent and former BAMMA Champion out of Birmingham, England’s Team Renegade stands as the first and only Jamaican-born champion in company history having yet to lose a fight since a December of 2015 bout versus the aforementioned Usman. Edwards’s opponent, Covington, returns to action for the first time in over 21 months where he earned a one-sided unanimous decision over teammate-turned-rival Jorge Masvidal. A former interim Champion and two-time divisional title challenger, Covington prepares for his 16th octagon walk in what the former collegiate wrestler hopes to be his first capturing of gold.
A second title will come in the co-main event between current UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja and challenger Brandon Royval. The fight comes as a rematch following their August of 2021 fight where Pantoja secured a second-round, rear-naked choke over Royval. Since the defeat, Pantoja has claimed back-to-back victories including his title-crowning win in a “Fight of the Year” contender opposite Brandon Moreno in July. Former LFA Flyweight Champion Royval gets his first chance at a UFC Championship having won three in-a-row with two back-to-back, first-round stoppages over Matt Schnell and Matheus Nicolau.
A rematch with the highest stakes possible! 🏆@PantojaMMA vs @BrandonRoyval for the flyweight title in tomorrow’s #UFC296 co-main!
[ 10pmET / 7pmPT | Live on @ESPNPlus PPV: https://t.co/IvTeJHHuOl ] pic.twitter.com/LkVOkFr0nZ
— UFC (@ufc) December 16, 2023
Looking to steal the show sees an additional welterweight affair as feared finisher, former M-1 Welterweight Champion Shavkat Rakhmonov, looks to continue his unbeaten ways against striking specialist and former two-time divisional title challenger Stephen Thompson.
The Ultimate Fighter 13 tournament victor and former UFC interim Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson aims to snap a surprising six-fight losing streak as he meets the 28-year-old Liverpool hype train of former Cage Warriors Featherweight Champion Paddy Pimblett.
After welterweight Ian Machado Garry was forced out of the main card opener due to pneumonia versus Vicente Luque, a featherweight pairing between Team Alpha Male’s Josh Emmett and Arkansas’s Bryce Mitchell was propelled to the night’s pay-per-view. See further below for our UFC 296: Edwards vs. Covington picks and predictions.
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/or 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.
In our final card of the year, who are the MMASucka staff picking to win at UFC 296: Edwards vs. Covington? Find out below.
MMASucka’s 2022 Championship Belt (courtesy of ProAmBelts).
Staff Records after UFC Vegas 83:
1. Ben Jamieson: 296-147
2. Michael DeSantis: 287-152
3. Nate Freeman: 281-162
4. Jeremy Brand: 278-165
5. Wesley Riddle: 274-169
6. Frazer Krohn: 267-169
7. Julio Monteros Jr.: 243-133
8. Andrew Benjamin: 207-176
9. Jack Goodwillie: 148-83
10. Brian Knight: 140-84
11. Tim Wheaton: 105-60
12. Roemello Reyes: 62-34
13. Jonathan Andrade: 31-24
14. Brandon Joint: 12-9
15T. Andrew Harbaugh: 10-7
15T. Chris De Santiago: 10-7
17. Joshua Yule: 7-6
18. Antwyn Jackson: 5-6
*Note – not all staff pick for every event*
Josh Emmett (18-4), +210
vs.
Bryce Mitchell (16-2), -258
Featherweight Division
– 145 LBS. ~ 65.8 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Emmett via Round 3 TKO
Wesley Riddle: Emmett via Round 2 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Mitchell via Unanimous Decision
Andrew Benjamin: Emmett via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Emmett via Round 2 TKO
Nate Freeman: Emmett via Round 3 TKO
Julio Monteros Jr.: Emmett via Round 3 TKO
Ben Jamieson: Mitchell via Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Emmett: 6
Staff picking Mitchell: 2
Tony Ferguson (26-9), +260
vs.
Paddy Pimblett (20-3), -325
Lightweight Division
– 155 LBS. ~ 70.3 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Ferguson via Unanimous Decision
Wesley Riddle: Pimblett via Round 1 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Ferguson via Round 2 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Ferguson via Round 2 SUB
Frazer Krohn: Ferguson via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Pimblett via Unanimous Decision
Julio Monteros Jr.: Pimblett via Split Decision
Ben Jamieson: Pimblett via Round 1 TKO
Staff picking Ferguson: 4
Staff picking Pimblett: 4
Shavkat Rakhmonov (17-0), -650
vs.
Stephen Thompson (17-6-1), +470
Welterweight Division
– 170 LBS. ~ 77.1 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Rakhmonov via Unanimous Decision
Wesley Riddle: Rakhmonov via Round 3 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Rakhmonov via Unanimous Decision
Andrew Benjamin: Thompson via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Rakhmonov via Round 3 SUB
Nate Freeman: Rakhmonov via Unanimous Decision
Julio Monteros Jr.: Rakhmonov via Round 2 SUB
Ben Jamieson: Rakhmonov via Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Rakhmonov: 7
Staff picking Thompson: 1
Alexandre Pantoja (26-5), -198
vs.
Brandon Royval (15-6), +164
Flyweight Divisional Championship
– Co-Main Event –
– 125 LBS. ~ 56.7 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Pantoja via Unanimous Decision
Wesley Riddle: Pantoja via Round 2 SUB
Michael DeSantis: Pantoja via Round 2 SUB
Andrew Benjamin: Pantoja via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Pantoja via Round 2 SUB
Nate Freeman: Pantoja via Round 2 SUB
Julio Monteros Jr.: Pantoja via Round 3 SUB
Ben Jamieson: Pantoja via Round 1 SUB
Staff picking Pantoja: 8
Staff picking Royval: 0
Leon Edwards (21-3, 1 NC), -166
vs.
Colby Covington (17-3), +140
Welterweight Divisional Championship
– Main Event –
– 170 LBS. ~ 77.1 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Edwards via Unanimous Decision
Wesley Riddle: Covington via Round 4 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Covington via Unanimous Decision
Andrew Benjamin: Covington via Split Decision
Frazer Krohn: Edwards via Round 4 TKO
Nate Freeman: Edwards via Unanimous Decision
Julio Monteros Jr.: Edwards via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Edwards via Round 2 TKO
Staff picking Edwards: 5
Staff picking Covington: 3
THEY SETTLE IT IN THE OCTAGON TOMORROW 🔥@Leon_EdwardsMMA vs @ColbyCovMMA for the welterweight world title at #UFC296!
[ 10pmET / 7pmPT | Live on @ESPNPlus PPV: https://t.co/IvTeJHHuOl ] pic.twitter.com/ecqDX5r7af
— UFC (@ufc) December 16, 2023
