Tomorrow night in the main event of UFC Vegas 16, Jack Hermansson (21-5) will be taking on Marvin Vettori (15-4-1). Both of these top 15 middleweights will be looking to take another step towards UFC title contention.
Marvin Vettori is actually the third opponent for Jack Hermansson for this event. Originally, Hermansson was supposed to take on former title challenger, Darren Till. However, a knee injury forced Till of the UFC Vegas 16 card.Â
After that, the UFC moved to Kevin Holland who has won four fights in 2020. However, Holland tested positive for COVID-19 last week which scrapped that fight. Now, we’ve finally landed on Hermansson taking on Marvin Vettori.Â
Despite all the changes, Hermansson never wavered in his desire to fight. He said this week that his opponent simply didn’t matter. You have to love that attitude from The Joker. He’s looking to close out 2020 with his second straight win and his sixth in his last seven fights.
Back in July, Hermansson took on Kelvin Gastelum. It was expected to be a tough fight for Hermansson, but he was able to get the fight to the floor early and submit Gastelum quick. It was a major statement for the Joker.
Hermansson has only lost twice since 2017 to Thiago Santos and Jared Cannonier. Those two massive power punches caught Hermansson and finished him. Outside of them, The Joker has used his superior grappling to run through the division.
UFC Vegas 16 Prediction
One thing to know about UFC Vegas 16’s Marvin Vettori is that he’s not afraid of anything from Jack Hermansson. The Italian Dream is supremely confident and believes that this fight will carry him into title contention.
Since 2017, Vettori has only lost one fight and that was to Israel Adesanya. Outside of that, he’s looked really good in his UFC fights. He’s on three fights in a row including a dominant submission win over Karl Roberson back in June.
Vettori has a very solid overall game, but will likely need to keep it standing to get the win tomorrow. Vettori has good striking, but he doesn’t possess incredible amounts of power. He’s a good grappler, but he will be overmatched by Jack Hermansson on the ground.
When it comes to UFC Vegas 16, I think there’s a much clearer path to victory for Jack Hermansson. He’s superior on the ground and I don’t think Vettori possesses enough power in his hands to stop Hermansson. Incredible power has been the only thing to stop Hermansson so far.
When these two get in the cage tomorrow, I think it’ll be evident early on that Hermansson is the superior grappler. I think Vettori will have his moments, but over the course of five rounds, I think Hermansson’s skills will be too much.
Prediction: Jack Hermansson by Unanimous Decision