UFC finally leaves Las Vegas behind for Dana White’s “Fight Island,” also known as Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The Flash Forum will host UFC on ESPN 13. The preliminary bouts will start at 7:00 pm ET on ESPN and ESPN+, and the main card will start three hours later. The main event features Calvin Kattar and Dan Ige in a featherweight bout, and the co-headliner pits Tim Elliott and Ryan Benoit in a flyweight fracas. We have the full card for the night’s action as well as UFC Odds on some of the key bouts.
UFC on ESPN 13: Kattar vs Ige Preview (July 16)
Main Card (ESPN)
- Calvin Kattar vs Dan Ige (Featherweight)
- Tim Elliott vs Ryan Benoit (Flyweight)
- Jimmie Rivera vs Cody Stamann (Featherweight)
- Molly McCann vs Taila Santos (Women’s Flyweight)
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs Mounir Lazzez (Catchweight – 174 lbs)
Preliminary Card (ESPN)
- John Phillips vs Khamzat Chimaev (Middleweight)
- Ricardo Ramos vs Lerone Murphy (Featherweight)
- Modestas Bukauskas vs Andreas Michailidis (Light Heavyweight)
- Chris Fishgold vs Jared Gordon (Catchweight – 149 lbs)
- Diana Belbita vs Liana Jojua (Women’s Flyweight)
- Jack Shore vs Aaron Phillips (Bantamweight)
Calvin Kattar (21-4) vs Dan Ige (14-2) features a fighter in Ige who has not lost since his debut in UFC, but his last two victories have come in split decisions. Will his luck run out against Kattar? His last win came against Edson Barboza and was controversial as many observers thought Barboza won in his first fight after dropping to 145 pounds. Before beating Barboza, Ige’s biggest signature win had been against Mirsad Bektic, a tough fighter but not one of the top featherweights in UFC. This will be Ige’s first fight that goes five rounds, which adds physical demands that he may not be ready for.
Kattar also takes part in his first five-round fight on Thursday. He did fight Zabit Magomedsharipov in a main event in Moscow, but that fight was elevated to the main event at the last minute, so it stayed at three rounds. Kattar had plenty of gas in the tank in the third round, winning it handily. In his next fight, he finished Jeremy Stephens at UFC 249 with a big elbow in the second round. Kattar is ranked sixth among UFC featherweights and could get a title shot with another few wins. If Kattar could deliver a convincing win here, he could get into the top five and get closer to a title fight.
Expect the fighters to stay up, as neither one is much of a grappler. In this context, Kattar has more power and brings a stronger striking game. Kattar has delivered finishes against over half of his combatants with knockouts. He delivers 5.29 significant strikes per minute, but he also eats a lot of bombs, taking 6.46 significant strikes per minute. It will be interesting to see if he can weather what Ige will bring.
- UFC Prediction: Kattar wins via decision
Tim Elliott (15-11-1) vs Ryan Benoit (10-6) could be Elliott’s last shot to stay in UFC. He has no wins in his last three bouts, and the flyweight division in UFC does not have a lot of stout fighters. If he gets taken to the cleaners by Benoit, expect him to exit. He could have been cut after dropping a fight to Brandon Royval, but the promotion is having a tough time finding its usual number of pugilists willing to enter the Octagon during the pandemic, so Elliott has hung around. I see Benoit punching his ticket to Bellator or another lower-tier MMA promotion.
- UFC Prediction: Benoit wins via decision
Ricardo Ramos (14-2) vs Lerone Murphy (8-0-1) is an interesting sleeper fight. Ramos is 5-1 in his six UFC bouts, with his only loss coming against Said Nurmagomedov back in 2019. He is starting to string wins together and could be the next big UFC featherweight contender. Murphy made his promotional debut at UFC 242 and fought Zubaira Tukhugov to a draw. This is a bout between two fighters who could be the division’s next great contender, and the winner will move up toward the higher tiers of the classification.
