UFC 318 Predictions for All Fights on July 19

UFC 318 hits New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center this coming Saturday. Our prediction is that this is going to be a real banger, possibly one of the best MMA events of 2025.

Max Holloway defends his symbolic BMF title against Dustin Poirier in their much‑anticipated trilogy – and Poirier’s retirement bout adds serious stakes.

The card also features the Paulo Costa vs. Roman Kopylov scrap, Marvin Vettori vs. Brendan Allen fight, and plenty of other interesting matchups. That’s actually why we decided to give you picks for each of those.

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UFC 318 Main Card Predictions

• Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier – Dustin Poirier
• Paulo Costa vs. Roman Kopylov – Roman Kopylov                                            
• Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez – Kevin Holland                                         
• Dan Ige vs. Patricio Pitbull – Dan Ige
• Michael Johnson vs. Daniel Zellhuber – Daniel Zellhuber

We’re backing Dustin Poirier to retire with the BMF belt in his possession. UFC 318 odds suggest otherwise, but our pick is “The Diamond,” and to see why we think he’ll win, make sure to read our Holloway vs. Poirier III preview.

That’s the only upset we expect to see on the UFC 318 main card. In all other fights, we’re backing favorites. Still, this doesn’t mean that those will be boring.

On the contrary, we think we might witness a few highlight-reel KOs – Kopylov might KO Costa, Holland might do it to Rodriguez, etc.

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Picks for UFC 318 Prelims

• Kyler Phillips vs. Vinicius Oliveira – Vinicius Oliveira                                        
• Marvin Vettori vs. Brendan Allen – Marvin Vettori                                
• Francisco Prado vs. Nikolay Veretennikov – Francisco Prado                       
• Ateba Gautier vs. Robert Valentin – Ateba Gautier

Ateba Gautier is the safest pick on the UFC 318 preliminary card. In all other prelims, it can easily go either way. Yes, this includes the Vettori vs. Allen fight, in which the Italian is a +175 underdog.

Sure, Allen is a hell of a fighter with a killer instinct, but Vettori is someone who’s never lost inside the distance. Plus, he’s got beef with this guy, with whom he got into a fight while in attendance at a PFL event.

That said, we wouldn’t be too shocked if Vettori managed to pull off an upset. And if he’s going to do it, we think it’s gonna be by out-striking Allen and winning by decision.

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Predictions for UFC 318 Early Prelims

• Adam Fugitt vs. Islam Dulatov – Islam Duratov      
• Jimmy Crute vs. Marcin Prachnio – Jimmy Crute                 
• Ryan Spann vs. Lukasz Brzeski – Ryan Spann                                                      
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Jackson McVey – Brunno Ferreira                                                     
• Carli Judice vs. Nicolle Caliari – Carli Judice

Our prediction for UFC 318 early prelims is that we’ll see several finishes. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if all five fights saw a finish. The card-opener – Judice vs. Caliari – is a fight between two incredible strikers, each of whom has a 100% finish ratio.

Our pick is Carli, who’s bigger and has a longer reach than her opponent. Plus, she’s fighting on her turf in Louisiana.

We also think Brunno Ferreira will finish Jackson McVey. It can be by either KO or submission, but we’re almost certain he’ll do it. After all, all of his 15 pro fights ended before the final bell.

Islam Dulatov should get a finish as well – the same as in each of his last 11 fights. We even suspect that Jimmy Crute and Ryan Spann might get wins inside the distance over their opponents.