Headlining our prelims, British wrestling extraordinaire Mike Grundy seeks to deliver Makwan Amirkhani his fourth loss in a row. This is an odd choice for a prelim headliner, since both guys are recovering from back to back losses. This could easily be an eliminator for who gets to stay in the UFC, which makes it an interesting matchup. Who comes into this fight with more to prove?
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Mike Grundy vs Makwan Amirkhani Prediction
Mike Grundy is a freestyle wrestler, and probably one of the better wrestlers coming out of England. Grundy uses his striking to secure takedowns, where he proceeds to maul opponents with heavy top control and ground and pound.
Makwan Amirkhani is also a grappler. You’d be surprised to know that Amirkhani only has 1 finish by KO/TKO in his 16 victories. This victory is his 7 second finish of Andy Ogle back in 2015. Amirkhani comes out strong, looking to outwork his opponent in the opening moments, and perhaps secure a quick finish.
This fight should be one of attrition, because in a clash of grapplers we either see some intense ground battles, or a stand up war. The case here, is that Grundy most definitely has the better grappling and cardio than Amirkhani. Since Amirkhani’s usual resort is to take his opponents down, this obviously isn’t a favourable matchup.
We can expect to see wrestling dominance from Grundy, he should avoid the fight on the feet and play where he feels most comfortable, which is wrestling Amirkhani for the decision.
My pick – Mike Grundy by unanimous decision.
Mike Grundy vs Makwan Amirkhani Betting Suggestion
Mike Grundy is a small favourite at 4/7 to win out right on Bet365. If you’re feeling riskier, pick Grundy by finish for 3/1 odds, since it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he wins by submission.
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Read my other predictions for UFC London
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Muhammad Mokaev vs Cody Durden
Cory McKenna vs Elise Reed
Jack Shore vs Timur Valiev
Nikita Krylov vs Paul Craig
Shamil Abdurakhimov vs Sergei Pavlovich
Mike Grundy vs Makwan Amirkhani
Jai Herbert vs Ilia Topuria
Molly McCann vs Luana Carolina
Gunnar Nelson vs Takashi Sato
Paddy Pimblett vs Rodrigo Vargas
Arnold Allen vs Dan Hooker
Alexander Volkov vs Tom Aspinall
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