This Saturday in Rio we have UFC 301 with Alexandre Pantoja defending the Flyweight belt against Steve Erceg for the main event. It is hard to have a good fight card coming off of the insanely stacked UFC 300 and UFC 301 doesn’t really look to good. However there are some solid fights throughout the main card that I think will be worth watching. These fights include Michel Pereira vs Ihor Potieria, Anthony Smith vs Vitor Petrino, Jose Aldo vs Jonathan Martinez, and Alexandre Pantoja vs Steve Erceg.
In the second fight of the main card we have veteran Michel Pereira taking on Ihor Potieria. I believe that Pereira will take home the win. Pereira has been in the UFC for 7 years and has a record of 30-11 coming off of an impressive 7 fight win streak. Potieria is a heavy underdog coming into this fight and it rightfully so. Potieria is 3-3 in his last 3 fights with all 3 losses being by knockout. This is good news for Pereira because he is a very powerful striker who has won 11 fights by knockout and 8 by submission. I think that this fight will end up in a 2nd round knockout win for Michel Pereira.
In our next fight we have Anthony Smith fighting Vitor Petrino. In this fight I predict that Petrino will go home victorious. Petrino has a perfect 11-0 record which is very impressive. On the other hand Smith has a solid record of 37-19. However Smith has lost 3 of his last 4 fights and many are starting to say that he is washed and too old to fight. Petrino is a very young and fresh fighter who is 9 years younger than Smith. Usually i’m not one to say that age matters a whole lot in the UFC based off of fighters like Jon Jones and Alexander Volkanovski, but in this instance I think the age difference is too great. I believe Petrino will come into this fight too fast for Smith to handle and it will result in Petrino winning by split decision. 
The next fight of the night is the fight that i’m most excited for and that is Jose Aldo vs Jonathan Martinez. In this fight I will be taking Jose Aldo over Jonathan Martinez. Jose Aldo is a veteran who has been fighting in the UFC for 11 years. This is one of the instances that I would say being older doesn’t matter. If anything age is benefiting Aldo in this fight as he has way more fight iq than Martinez. Many forgot about Aldo after he was defeated by Connor Mcgregor for the bantamweight belt. Many forgot that before this he defended the belt for 6 years and won 10 straight title defenses. Jonathan Martinez is a solid fighter with a record of 19-4. However I believe that Aldo will overpower him getting a knockout win.
In the final fight of the night we have Alexandre Pantoja facing off against Steve Erceg. In this fight I will be taking Pantoja over Erceg. Pantoja is the current Flyweight belt holder and has a record of 27-5. Pantoja is a veteran who has very quick feet and very solid submissions. Erceg has only had 3 total fights in the octagon winning all 3. However he is a very solid boxer with very good striking. I think that If Pantoja can keep this fight on the ground he will maintain the belt. I do think however there is a chance that Erceg pulls off the upset with a knockout because of his boxing and striking backgound.
