Fighter Notes:
Irwin Rivera
#129 Featherweight
2nd UFC FightHas fought at both 135 lb and 145 lb. Won his last three pre UFC fights by KO, two in R4 however. Has never lost by submission. Note: His volume stats in The Sheet are based off his one UFC fight.
Ali Qaisi
Unranked
1st UFC FightHe won his last two fights by decision, but won by R1 submission on the previous three (two Guillotine Chokes & one Armbar). He loves to go for guillotine chokes but has not fought UFC caliber competition so it's hard to know how effective his submission attempts will be.
Youssef Zalal
#66 Featherweight
3rd UFC Fight2-0 in the UFC. 4 of his last 5 fights have gone to decision. He landed six take downs in his first UFC fight, but didn't manage to complete any in his next fight. Should look to correct that against Barrett and take him down as much as possible. Doesn't have much power in his arms but he can throw a violent flying knee that can result in a KO and also has five submissions in his pro career (four by choke & one by armbar).
Peter Barrett
Unranked
1st UFC FightNormally fights at 155 lb. All of his losses have come early, with two in R1 and one in R3. No reason to think he will win this fight. Two of his three losses have come by submission, one by armbar and one by arm-triangle choke.
Gavin Tucker
#74 Featherweight
4th UFC Fight2-1 in the UFC with two of those three fights going to decision and all three making it at least to R3. Only pro loss came the fight before last. All 9 pre UFC fights were early finish wins, however, the pre UFC combined record of his opponents was 37-46. He came into the UFC as a cocky, showboating raw talent, relying on his speed and ability to dodge punches. That was enough to win his UFC debut, but he then took a beating in his second UFC fight. He appeared to let his emotions get the best of him and gassed himself out early in R2. It looked like the ref should have stopped that fight multiple times in the 3rd round as Tucker continued to get pounded into a bloody mess while not really fighting back. He changed his approach some in his 3rd fight focussing more on wrestling, but that may have been an opponent specific strategy or due to his new coaching/training. He continued to show his lack of discipline by landing an illegal knee in R2 that could have cost him a decision win had he not ended the fight in R3. Hyped by Dana.
Justin Jaynes
#77 Lightweight
2nd UFC FightThis is his first fight at 145 lb. He's fought between 150-170 lb in the past. Most recently fought at 155 lb on 6/20/20. He's won his last five fights in R1 and has only one loss in his last 11 fights. He's never been finished early as a pro. If this fight ends in the first round, it's most likely because Jaynes knocked Tucker out. Note: His volume stats based off one 41 second fight. Hyped by Dana.
Wellington Turman
#38 Middleweight
3rd UFC FightHis last two fights, 4 of last 6, and 6 of last 8 went to decision. The two fights in the last eight that ended early were both R1 SUB wins. He's never been finished early as a pro.
Andrew Sanchez
#36 Middleweight
8th UFC FightHis last three fights and 5 of last 7 have gone to decision. The two that didn't were both R3 KO losses.
Nasrat Haqparast
#28 Lightweight
6th UFC FightHigh-volume power striker coming off getting KO'd by Drew Dober 1:10 into his last fight. Won his previous fight to that with a R2 KO. 3-2 in the UFC now after also losing in his UFC debut. His first three UFC fights went to decision. All nine of his pre UFC fights ended early (8-1 only losing his first pro fight). KO'd Joaquim Silva, who had previously never been finished, the fight before last.
Alex Munoz
Unranked
1st UFC FightFormer D1 college wrestler at OKSU. Last three fights went to decision after first three fights all ended in R1. It would make sense for Munoz to try and take this to the ground as he is at a disadvantage on the feet.
Kevin Holland
#20 Middleweight
7th UFC FightOverwhelmed Hernandez in 39 second R1 KO win back in May. Only other high scoring DK performance came against human heavybag, John Phillips. Holland landed 123 SS, 5 TDs and 8 ADV in route to a 156 DK pt R3 SUB trouncing. Has 6 SUB wins by Rear-Naked Choke x2, Triangle Choke, Guillotine Choke x2, and one unspecified (pre UFC). Both UFC SUB wins were by Rear-Naked Choke. Claimed to have dislocated his shoulder "again" against Alessio Di Chirico in R2 and still won a DEC. Hyped by Dana.
Joaquin Buckley
#131 Middleweight
1st UFC FightWon last two fights by R1 & R2 KO respectively. Power puncher with five R1 KO's. This will be his first UFC fight and on very short notice. Moved up from 170 lb to 185 lb in 2019. Will be giving up 7" of height and 8" of reach in this fight. Just fought on 7/31/20 but didn't really take any damage. Hyped by Dana.
Laureano Staropoli
#46 Welterweight
4th UFC FightAll three of his UFC fights (2-1) have gone to decision. All eight of his pre-UFC fights (7-1) ended early, in rounds 1 or 2. The three UFC decisions may keep his DraftKings ownership slightly lower than it should be as many casuals will focus on the last three low scoring results while not realizing his KO potential. This sets up as a great leverage opportunity as Tim Means should be a popular dog play and Staropoli is due for an early finish. He also showed his durability obsorbing some massive blows from Salikohv in his last fight while managing to stay on his feet. MISSED WEIGHT (weighed in at 174.5).
Tim Means
#43 Welterweight
24th UFC Fight2-2 in his last 4 fights and 3-5 in his last 8 UFC fights. His last four fights have all ended early, three in R1 and one in R2. He's alternated wins and losses over his last 5 fights and has shown he's very capable of ending a fight early but also can be finished himself. Missed weight originally (weighed in at 172.5) but then was given an additional 60 minutes and weighed in at 171 lb on his second attempt.
Beneil Dariush
#12 Lightweight
18th UFC FightHas won his last four fights, with last three ending early (two in R2 & one in R1). Won Performance of the Night on last three fights (R2 KO W, R1 SUB W, R2 SUB W). Recently submitted Drew Dober with an Armbar in R2. MISSED WEIGHT (weighed in at 158).
Scott Holtzman
#21 Lightweight
11th UFC Fight9 out of his 10 UFC fights have seen a R3. 7-3 in the UFC with seven fights going to decision. All three losses were by decision, one against Drew Dober another Josh Emmett, and most recently to Nik Lentz. 2 of his last 3 wins were by R2 & R3 KO. Hasn't ended a fight in R1 since 2012.
Yana Kunitskaya
#8 Bantamweight
5th UFC Fight3-3 in her last 6 fights, 2-2 in the UFC. Last 3 wins came by decision. Last 4 losses came by KO/SUB (R3 KO, R1 KO, R2 SUB by Rear-Naked Choke, R1 SUB by Armbar).
Julija Stoliarenko
#20 Bantamweight
2nd UFC FightArmbar specialist with all 8 submission wins coming via armbar, including 4 of last 5 fights. Lost her UFC debut back in 2018. Then left the UFC and rattled off 5 wins in a row. This will be her first fight back in her second chance with the UFC. Her two KO losses came very early in her career back in 2014 & 2015 (3rd & 4th pro fights). In her last fight she looked for the armbar early but when it wasn't there she turned it into a stand up boxing bloodbath.
Darren Stewart
#29 Middleweight
10th UFC Fight2-2 in his last four fights with all four going to decision. 4-5 in his last 9 fights. His last fight (loss) was in Cage Warriors and not in the UFC. He's never been KO'd in his pro career. He's also the only fighter to take Shahbazyahn to a decision (Stewart lost). Also KO'd Charles Byrd in R2 back in 2018. 4-4-1 record in the UFC.
Maki Pitolo
#78 Middleweight
3rd UFC FightHe's won 4 of his last 5 fights. 1-1 in the UFC. 6 of his last 7 fights have ended early. KO'd Charles Byrd in R2 of 6/6/20 fight.
Chris Weidman
#89 Light Heavywght
16th UFC FightFought his last fight at 205 lb but all of his other fights have been at 185 lb. He's lost his last two fights and 5 of his last 6 (all by KO) after winning his first 13 fights.
Omari Akhmedov
#13 Middleweight
13th UFC Fight5-0-1 in his last six fights (all went to decision) with his last loss coming in 2016. His last two losses were by R3 KO. His last early finish win was in 2015. He handed previously undefeated Abdul Razak Alhassan his first loss back in 2017 and was the only fighter to go the distance with him until Lazzez recently did the same in Abdul's return to the UFC. He had eight straight R1 finishes before joining the UFC in 2013. The momentum carried into his UFC debut which he also won in R1. However, his only other early finish win in the UFC came in his fourth UFC fight back in 2015. In his recent fights it seems like he fighting not to lose, which he has done quite successfully, but it doesn't translate into high DFS scores. Maybe having an opponent that has been KO'd in 5 of his last 6 fights will turn that around.
Derrick Lewis
#7 Heavyweight
20th UFC FightWon his last two fights by decision. 3 of last 4 wins also came by decision. However, one was against Balgoy Ivanov who has never been KO'd and famously survived being stabbed in the heart. Another was against Franic Ngannou who has never been finished early (and is 10-2 in the UFC with eight R1 KO's and two R2 KO's). Prior to that, 18 of 19 wins came early. Only career submission loss came to Daniel Cormier. His last 5 losses came early (R2 KO, R2 SUB, R4 KO, R2 KO, R1 KO). His last R1 win came in 2016. His last R1 loss came in 2014.
Aleksei Oleinik
#10 Heavyweight
13th UFC Fight4-3 in his last seven fights. The three losses in that span all came by KO (two in R1 & one in R2). 5 of his last 6 wins came by submission. His last KO win came in 2014. 8 of his last 9 fights ended early (his most recent fight went to DEC). His last R1 win came in 2018.