UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs. Imavov staff picks and predictions

Who will win in the UFC APEX on Saturday night?

Clinch work. Art by Chris Rini.

The UFC returns to its APEX facility this weekend with a card filled with solid fights, though none involving fighters who would be considered household names. Roman Dolidze and Nassourdine Imavov might have it in them to become much better known in the sport, but to earn that honour one must beat the other into obscurity. That’s the beauty (or ugliness) of this sport.

Before those middleweights go at it in the main event, the co-main serves up Renato Moicano vs. Drew Dober. Deeper on the card is Molly ‘Meatball’ McCann vs. Diana Belbita and Themba ‘The Rock bought me a house’ Gorimbo vs. Pete Rodriguez.

As always, we’ve done our darnedest to figure out who is going to win each and every fight. As you can see below, our staff are mostly on the side of the Georgian Dolidze to walk away from this one with his hand raised. Though, last year’s pick champion Eddie is siding with the Russian-born French fighter Imavov.

If you’d like to see all our picks for UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs. Imavov, keep on scrolling. And please don’t forget to tell us your picks in the comment section!

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Roman Dolidze vs. Nassourdine Imavov

Anton Tabuena: This is not a bad fight in a vacuum, but you already know just looking at the main event that this is another filler Apex card. The fight could be interesting, but neither headliner has won since 2022, and the rest of the card is worse too. Sigh. I think the fight can go either way, with Dolidze being the more potent finisher, but might struggle against Imavov's grit and technique if he doesn't badly hurt him. Not really confident in this, but I'm going with Roman Dolidze by TKO.

Chris: Even though I’m picking fights this year based on criteria (as opposed to last year’s coin flip debacle), one pick per card based on a gut feeling should be allowed. With that said, I like what I see from Dolidze in terms of his Modelo Fighting Spirit™ 

Dayne: There’s no doubt who is going to win more of this fight in terms of minute winning. Imavov is more disciplined, more technical, younger, and the superior strategist. Because of that, I have a hard time believing he won’t win should the fight manage to go five rounds. The question is whether it will get that far.

Imavov has proven to be tough as nails, not having been finished since his MMA debut about eight years ago. But Dolidze is also one of the most opportunistic SOB’s in MMA. Part of that is because he too is tough as nails, providing him with a fearlessness that allows him to attempt all sorts of unorthodox manoeuvres that catch his opponents off-guard. He has the power and grappling prowess to secure the finishes in those situations too. Thus, it’s hard to believe he doesn’t find a finish over five rounds.

Another reason is that I’m not completely sold on Imavov quite yet either. His best official win came against Joaquin Buckley, who has since dropped to 170. Edmen Shahbazyan appeared to be mentally broken when Imavov got to him and Ian Heinisch appeared to have checked out by that point. I will admit Imavov was on his way to beating Chris Curtis, but the deal wasn’t closed. Imavov certainly has the higher ceiling, but I don’t believe he’s fully hit his stride while Dolidze appears to be in his prime. Dolidze via TKO of RD2

Zane: I guess I’ll be the guy here to go against the narrative. Imavov may have trouble with flagging late in fights, but he actually has been 5 rounds before, and Dolidze doesn’t fight in a way that makes me more confident that he’d be fresh later. Otherwise Imavov is much, much sharper and more consistent as a striker, even if he’s not as powerful. And while he may not be as beefy as Dolidze, he’s also a pretty huge LHW that’s hard to take down and control on the mat. I just get the feeling that Imavov will be too tough for Dolidze to put away and otherwise will win too much of the standup for Dolidze to clearly take rounds. Nassourdine Imavov by decision.

Staff picking Dolidze: Chris, Dayne, Victor, Kristen, Evan, Stephie, Tim, Anton
Staff picking Nassourdine: Zane, Jack, Eddie

Renato Moicano vs. Drew Dober

Anton: I'm looking forward to this more than the main event. Dober has power, but I don't think he's at the level of those other elite strikers who stopped Moicano like Fiziev, Aldo and Zombie. I think Moicano's more polished overall game will be enough to get a win here, but it'll be interesting to see how it unfolds. Renato Moicano by Decision.

Chris: Moicano has a reach and age advantage. While I do think he’s susceptible to power shots where Dober excels, we are picking with our excel sheets, not our hearts over here.

Dayne: Moicano tends to get his chin checked, but Dober tends to get subbed by anyone with an above average ground game. Thus, something has to give given Moicano’s an excellent grappler and Dober’s last seven wins saw him put away his opponent. Thus, it comes down to who can implement their style of fight.

Dober will need to make the fight as dirty as possible, draw Moicano into a brawl. As Moicano has matured, he’s done a solid job of resisting those types of fight. Even better, he’s been finding ways to get his opponent’s back on the regular. Dober has struggled to keep his fights standing against a higher level of competition and Moicano would fall into that. Thus, I’m favoring the Brazilian in this one. Moicano via submission of RD1

Zane: This could very easily be a first round, first minute landslide performance from either man. Moicano has been knocked cold by big punchers several times before and Dober has been swallowed up by superior grappling on a whole number of occasions. Something in my gut, however, tells me that this will last a bit. If that’s the case, and if Moicano can survive early damage, I think he’s got the game to rally back and find more ways to win. More range tools, more takedowns, more positional grappling. Renato Moicano via submission, round 2.

Staff picking Moicano: Chris, Dayne, Victor, Zane, Stephie, Jack, Tim, Eddie, Anton
Staff picking Dober: Kristen, Evan

Randy Brown vs. Muslim Salikhov

Chris: This fight is the holy trifecta of gambling. Randy Brown has (1) a two inch (or more) reach advantage, (2) is at least two years younger, and (3) is a southpaw fighting an orthodox opponent. Bet the house, folks (this is a BJ Penn quote when he was about to fight Yair Rodriguez. Please don’t bet the house)

Dayne: Brown should absolutely win this fight. He’s the better athlete. He’s bigger. He’s more well-rounded. He’s younger. Pretty much everything is in his favor. And yet, I find myself hesitant to pick him due to his brain farts. I thought he’d overcome that, but he barely managed a win over Wellington Turman. Salikhov is in decline, but he only needs one opening to catch Brown on the outside. Despite that, I can’t rule out all the positives in Brown’s favor. Brown via decision

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Zane: I really wanted to pick Salikhov here. Brown’s tendency to let people back in fights and to value showmanship and creativity over functional consistency means that a crafty range striker as slick as Salikhov should get several chances to land big. But if you really look at who has beat Brown over time, it’s mostly been high output pressure fighters. And Salikhov just isn’t that. Most likely both men will get the range war they want, but if they do, Brown has the reach, throws more, and has age on his side. Randy Brown by decision.

Staff picking Brown: Chris*, Dayne, Victor, Kristen, Evan*, Zane, Stephie, Jack, Tim, Eddie, Anton
Staff picking Salikhov:

Viviane Araujo vs. Natalia Silva

Chris: Araujo is tough, but for my money Natalia Silva is the future of the division’s contenders. I expect to see her in the top ten by year end. 

Dayne: Coming off two consecutive losses, Araujo completely caught me off guard when she managed to outwork former title challenger Jennifer Maia and send her packing from the UFC. After all, she’s 37 with a faulty gas tank. However, in retrospect, Maia was an excellent stylistic matchup for Araujo to get back on track. Maia doesn’t push a hard pace and isn’t the athlete Araujo is, allowing the quicker Araujo to beat Maia to the punch. She won’t have those luxuries against Silva.

Silva is one of the best pure athletes in the division, if not the best. She also pushes a hard pace and tends to have energy in reserve at the end of a 15 minute contest. That spells doom for Araujo. Araujo’s best chance is if she can get Silva to the mat, but Silva has proven to have solid submission defense. Besides, Araujo hasn’t secured a submission win since before her UFC days. Silva via decision

Zane: I’d like to pick Araujo here. I think she definitely has the physical tools to deal with Silva. And if she can get her wrestling going the way she did against Maia, then Silva might just get taken out of the fight completely. But, I think that had a lot more to do with how slow footed Maia is and how classically porous her takedown D has been in open space. Silva by contrast is much lighter on her feet, and much faster. Think this will probably be razor close, because Silva is far too willing to take a shot to land a shot, but I gotta take the faster athlete to win most of the exchanges. Natalia Silva by decision.

Staff picking Araujo: Evan
Staff picking Silva: Dayne* Victor*, Kristen, Zane, Stephie*, Jack, Tim, Eddie, Anton*

Aliaskhab Khizriev vs. Makhmud Muradov

Dayne: I once thought Muradov had the potential to bust into the top 10 of the UFC’s official rankings. I no longer believe that possible. He’ll be 34 next week and appears to be feeling the effects of all the miles he put on his body. That said, I don’t believe he’s completely washed yet and Khizriev is a major question mark.