UFC Fight Night 206 main card preview & best bets – April 16

Two talented young middleweights are set to make their UFC debuts as Caio Borralho takes on Gadzhi Omargadzhiev in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 206. Here’s a preview of this matchup as well as the other four fights on Saturday’s main card leading up to the main event of Vicente Luque vs Belal Muhammad.

Middleweight: Caio Borralho (+115) vs Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (-135)

Since losing the second fight of his professional career back in 2015, Caio Borralho (10-1-0) is a perfect 9-0-0 over his last nine fights. That stretch includes two wins in the Dana White’s Contender Series last year to earn him this spot on the main roster. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev’s last win also came in a Dana White’s Contender Series fight. Omargadzhiev (13-0-0) has never lost and has eight knockouts and three submissions through his first 13 wins.

This should be a good and competitive fight that will give the winner a nice start to his UFC career. This one could go either way, but Omargadzhiev’s superior ability to stop fights makes us lean his way as he is the more likely fighter to take matters into his own hands with a knockout win.

Welterweight: Miguel Baeza (-170) vs André Fialho (+145)

Miguel Baeza (10-2-0) opened his career with a perfect 10-0 record that included a 3-0 start in the UFC before suffering back-to-back losses to Santiago Pozinibbio and Kalinn Williams over his last two fights. Andre Fialho (14-4-0) had an underwhelming UFC debut in a unanimous decision loss to Michel Pereira at UFC 270 in January. We’ve seen enough from Baeza at the UFC level to believe that he can get back on track this Saturday against a less demanding opponent in Fialho than the last two fighters he has faced.

Women’s Bantamweight: Mayra Bueno Silva (-455) vs Wu Yanan (+355)

Mayra Bueno Silva (7-2-1) won her UFC debut against Gillian Robertson to improve to 6-0-0 before hitting a wall with a 1-2-1 slump over her last four fights. Silva will have an excellent shot to snap her slump on Saturday when she faces Wu Yanan. Yanan (12-4-0) entered the UFC with an 11-1-0 record that included six knockout wins and four submission wins, but she hasn’t found success at this level with a 1-3 record since 2017 with the promotion. Silva should control this fight on the ground throughout en route to a submission or decision win.

Featherweight: Pat Sabatini (-500) vs T.J. Laramie (+375)

Pat Sabatini (16-3-0) is the biggest favorite on the main card, and for good reason. He is 5-0-0 over his last five fights including a 3-0-0 start in the UFC, winning all three of his fights with the promotion in 2021. T.J. Laramie (12-4-0), meanwhile, was choked out in under a minute when we last saw him in his UFC debut back in September of 2020. Barring a whole lot of improvement outside of the octagon over the last year and a half, Laramie figures to be over-matched in this one as he makes his return against a very solid opponent in Sabatini, who has 10 career submission wins.

Welterweight: Mounir Lazzez (-210) vs Ange Loosa (+180)

Mounir Lazzez (10-2-0) scored a big upset over Abdul Razak Alhassan in his UFC debut that has gotten worse with age as Alhassan is 1-4 over his last five fights. Lazzez was knocked out in the first round of his last fight against Warlley Alves. Ange Loosa (8-2-0) will be making his UFC debut in this fight and doesn’t exactly have a ton of momentum with a 2-2 record over his last four fights. Lazzez is beatable, but nothing about Loosa’s recent form suggests a jump to the UFC is going to do him any favors.

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