Tonight, the UFC returns to the APEX and there’s a pivotal matchup in the women’s bantamweight division headlining the show. Former bantamweight champion Holly Holm (15-6) is back as she’s taking on Mayra Bueno Silva (10-2-1) who is looking to remain unbeaten at 135.
The UFC’s bantamweight division is wide open after the retirement of Amanda Nunes. With the division open, there’s a lot of internal discussion with the promotion on who will be next for the title. This fight could ultimately play a factor in who fights for the belt next.
Mayra Bueno Silva hasn’t lost since moving up to 135. After an okay start to her UFC career at flyweight, Silva moved up to 135 and has won three straight to earn this shot against Holly Holm in tonight’s main event.
Holly Holm had an excellent 2020 with wins over Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana. However, injuries kept her out until mid-2022 and she lost a controversial split decision to Ketlen Vieira in her return. She returned back in March and the former UFC champ dominated Yana Santos.
UFC Vegas 77 Prediction
Mayra Bueno Silva is definitely a unique challenger to Holly Holm. She has very good submissions and she does have great boxing. I do wonder if she’ll be able to compete with the strength of Holly Holm in this matchup especially along the fence and in the clinch.
Holm is incredibly strong and I can see the former champion really playing on those physical advantages throughout the fight. Silva is talented enough to pull off a submission or land some big shots, but I just think the fight IQ of Holly Holm is too high in this matchup.
Holm will use her footwork and strike from range while mixing in some grappling exchanges in this one. I think the former UFC champion gets her hand raised tonight.
Prediction: Holly Holm by Decision