Tonight, the UFC brings two Bantamweight title fights to the Prudential Center in Newark, where former rivals clash and where up and coming stars look to cement their place in history. Here’s how we think things are going to shake out.

Merab Dvalishvili vs Sean O’Malley

The main event of the evening pits the Bantamweight Champion, Merab Dvalishvili against the man who he beat to get the belt, Sean O’Malley, who is on a quest of his own to regain the title. In their first fight, Dvalishvili’s pressure, cardio, and ability to spam takedowns lead him to a unanimous decision victory. The O’Malley team thinks they have made the adjustments necessary to beat the champion, citing a new, cleaner lifestyle, and some areas in Dvalishvili’s gameplan to exploit. Even with the lifestyle change, I don’t think that 9 months was enough time for Sean O’Malley to drastically change his style enough to be effective against Merab. As a great striker, he will always have a punchers chance, but if Dvalishvili can take down and tire out Umar Nurmagomedov like he did back in January, he should have no problem doing it again to Sean.

Prediction: Merab Dvalishvili via unanimous decision

Juliana Pena vs Kayla Harrison 

Kayla Harrison’s biggest obstacle to getting the title from Juliana Pena may have already been cleared as of yesterday, as she successfully made the 135lb weight limit. Harrison, who has competed in other organizations 145 and 155lbs, has to cut significant weight in order to make the UFC’s Bantamweight division, which she has successfully done. Juliana Pena is the champion, and she does hold a win over the greatest of all time in Amanda Nunes, but there is a reason that Kayla Harrison is at -625 odds as of Friday night. Pena has historically mediocre takedown defense, and her striking style is messy at best. Pena finds the best success in fights where she can grit out and tire her opponents, as she did against Amanda Nunes in their first fight, and against Raquel Pennington last October. Pena is one tough cookie, but she’s in deep trouble if Harrison gets on top of her. Her best bet to win this fight is to take it to the later rounds, where Harrison hasn’t had to fight at 135 yet. Do I think that’s a realistic possibility? Nope.

Prediction: Kayla Harrison by whatever she wants …

Our Other Picks: 

• Joe Pyfer def Kelvin Gastelum via unanimous decision
• Patchy Mix def Mario Bautista via submission
• Kevin Holland def Vincente Luque via unanimous decision
• Joshua Van def Bruno Silva via KO/TKO
• Azamat Murzakanov def Brendson Ribeiro via KO/TKO
• Serghei Spivac def Waldo Cortez Acosta vs KO/TKO
• Khaos Williams def Andreas Gustafsson via KO/TKO
• Wang Kong def Ariane De Silva via unanimous decision
• Joosang Yoo def Jeka Saragih via unanimous decision
• Quillan Salkilld def Yanal Ashmouz via unanimous decision
• Mark Choinski def Marquel Mederos via submission

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