UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill Predictions, Fight Card, and Odds (May 20)

• The UFC is coming back to Vegas with an event titled UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill.
• Dern vs. Hill headlines the event, while there are another five bouts on the main card.

One of the best grapplers in women’s MMA Mackenzie Dern is taking on one of the best female strikers in the UFC, Angela Hill. The two meet in a women’s strawweight fight that will serve as the headliner of the evening.

The middleweight fight between Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Anthony Hernandez will serve as the co-main event, with another four fights on the main card. We’re now going to analyze each of those, sharing our top UFC Fight Night predictions along the way.

Schedule and How to Watch

• Where: UFC Apex, Enterprise, Nevada
• When: Saturday, May 20, 2023, at 10 p.m ET
• How to Watch: ESPN+

UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill Predictions

Mackenzie Dern vs. Angela Hill

Mackenzie Dern’s got Brazilian jiu-jitsu in her genes – she’s the daughter of legendary grappler Wellington “Megaton” Dias. Dern had a very successful BJJ career before switching to MMA, which saw her win the gold medal in numerous international tournaments (e.g., 2016 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship).

Her MMA career started in 2016, but three years later, she went on a pregnancy break. After giving birth, she came back into the Octagon and won four fights in a row. Three of those earned her the Performance of the Night bonus. Guess which method she used to win those three fights? Submission, of course.

She’s got a submission-to-win ratio of 58.33% and is without a single win by KO/TKO. What’s interesting is that Angela Hill is just the opposite. She’s got zero submission wins but has defeated a couple of opponents by KO/TKO. This is no surprise as she’s a fine kickboxer who lands 5.68 significant strikes a minute.

We doubt she can put Dern to sleep. In fact, the only way for Hill to triumph is to take the fight to the distance and hope for the best. Unfortunately, this is a 5-round bout, and we honestly doubt Dern won’t finish the job within the 25 minutes.

Prediction:

Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Anthony Hernandez

Just like the main event of UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill, the co-main event too will see a duel between a fantastic striker and a fantastic grappler. The striker in question is Edmen Shahbazyan, who’s got a knockout-to-win ratio of 83.33%. The grappler in this fight is Anthony Hernandez, who boasts a submission-to-win ratio of 70%.

Bookmakers see Hernandez as the favorite, which is mainly because Shahbazyan’s recent record isn’t great. He’s 1-3 in his last four UFC fights, but the good news is that the win in question happened in his most recent fight. He defeated Dalcha Lungiambula by TKO, winning a Performance of the Night bonus along the way.

Prediction:

Emily Ducote vs. Lupita Godinez

Emily Ducote was originally meant to fight Polyana Viana at the UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Hill, but Viana pulled out of the bout for undisclosed reasons. Loopy Godinez stepped in as her replacement and is now expected to win the fight.

The reason? She’s bigger and stronger than Ducote. In fact, this is going to be a catchweight fight because Loopy just couldn’t get down to 115 pounds on such short notice. Weighing more than Ducote doesn’t mean she’s out of shape.

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On the contrary, Loopy is one of the fighters with the best stamina in all of the women’s MMA. The evidence of this is that 10 of her 12 professional fights lasted until the final bell.

Prediction:

Andre Fialho vs. Joaquin Buckley

Andre Fialho is 15-6 in his professional career, but his record in the UFC isn’t too impressive. In the world’s most elite promotion, he’s 2-3. His opponent, Joaquin Buckley, is 15-6 overall, with a 5-4 record in the UFC.

You might think that isn’t impressive either, but the fact is that Buckley has already fought a couple of elite fighters. For example, in his most recent fight, he lost to Chris Curtis by KO. This happened last December, but we think he’s gotten over it and will bounce back to the winning track this Saturday.

Prediction:

Hayisaer Maheshate vs. Viacheslav Borschev

Two Dana White Contender Series alumni lock horns on Saturday – Hayisaer Maheshate (9-2) and Viacheslav Borschev (6-3). Neither fighter has ever lost a fight inside the distance, but that might change this weekend.

Borschev is a hard-hitting knockout expert who has no other road to victory but to beat Maheshate with punches. Sure, his opponent has way more weapons in his arsenal, but “Slava” just needs one punch to finish him.

Prediction:

Carlos Diego Ferreira vs. Michael Johnson

Ferreira is desperate to end his three-fight losing streak and we think he might succeed. The thing is that his opponent too has had a fair share of problems over the last couple of years. Although Johnson is coming off a win over Marc Diakiese last December, the fact is that he is 2-5 in his last seven.

Prediction: