UFC is back in Las Vegas on Saturday night for Fight Night 176 from the UFC APEX Facility. The main event pits Alistair Overeem against Augusto Sakai in a heavyweight tilt. Overeem won the K-1 World Grand Prix in 2010 and was also a Heavyweight Champion with Strikeforce. In UFC, he was a challenger for the Heavyweight Championship. The co-headliner will feature Ovince Saint Preux and Alonzo Menifield in the light heavyweight division.
We have the full fight card for you, and you can catch the whole evening on ESPN+. Don’t miss our UFC betting thoughts on some of the key fights.
UFC Fight Night 176:
Overeem vs Sakai MMA Preview
Main Card | UFC Fight Night 176
Alistair Overeem vs Augusto Sakai (Heavyweight)
Ovince Saint Preux vs Alonzo Menifield (Light Heavyweight)
Michel Pereira vs Zelim Imadaev (Welterweight)
Brian Kelleher vs Kevin Natividad (Featherweight)
Thiago Moises vs Jalin Turner (Lightweight)
Preliminary Card | UFC Fight Night 176
Andre Muniz vs Bartosz Fabinski (Middleweight)
Viviane Araujo vs Montana De La Rosa (Women’s Flyweight)
Alexandr Romanov vs Marcos Rogerio de Lima (Heavyweight)
Cole Smith vs Hunter Azure (Bantamweight)
Alistair Overeem vs Augusto Sakai
Alistair Overeem (46-18, -145) vs Augusto Sakai (15-1-1, +125) gives us a familiar headliner in Overeem. When he came to UFC, he was already the Strikeforce heavyweight champ, and in his UFC debut he finished Brock Lesnar quickly and looked like he was headed for a UFC title fight. Unfortunately, he failed a drug test and had a downward spiral from there. He picked up points early against Antonio Silva and Travis Browne but couldn’t finish either fighter, and then he fell apart, getting knocked out in both fights. A similar result against Ben Rothwell prompted him to change his methods, adding a wrestling game and a defense to his repertoire. He got a title shot in 2016 but lost to Stipe Miocic, and losses to Francis Ngannou, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Curtis Blaydes since then have kept him from getting another title shot, but he has beaten all other comers and has remained an important figure in the classification, a sort of gatekeeper for newer talents, as he is in this fight.
Sakai is not the sort of young heavyweight talent that usually gets a headliner slot this early in his career, because he has a striking game that is high in volume but low in power, instead of a brawler who likes to land big bombs and is still learning his defense. His cardio is better than you think it would be after looking at him, and he is also deceptively quick. He has delivered finishes in two of his four UFC fights, including an impressive win in 2019 over Marcin Tybura, when he came out with an unusual aggression and ended things in less than a minute. However, his next win, a decision victory over Blagoy Ivanov, went to the cards and was slow to watch. Sakai is not the type of fighter likely to deliver the knockout blow to Overeem’s chin, and Overeem should also have the edge should things go to the ground.
Final Prediction:
Overeem wins via decision | Check the UFC Odds
Ovince Saint Preux vs Alonzo Menifield
Ovince Saint Preux (24-14, +110) vs Alonzo Menifield (9-1, -130) marks Saint Preux’s return after a COVID-19 bout. He once played linebacker for the University of Tennessee, but that athleticism has never really translated into success for him, because he has tried to bludgeon his way to victory using athleticism instead of developing fighting technique. He uses an unorthodox striking style and tries to extract a finish as quickly as possible, but now that he is nearing the age of 40, that athleticism is starting to dwindle a bit, and his fight results are showing it. He did beat Michal Oleksiejczuk on the cards in September, but he had some losses to Nikita Krylov and Ben Rothwell sandwiched around it. He went up to heavyweight to fight Rothwell and now returns to light heavyweight to face MEnifield.
Menifield is the slight favorite despite losing to Devin Clark in June, which was the first fight that really pushed him. Menifield was able to win his early fights via knockout in the early going, but Clark had better defensive skill, and Menifield didn’t have the creativity to figure out what to do next. It’s tough to finish Saint Preux, and so after that early barrage, Saint Preux should be able to take advantage.
Final Prediction:
Saint Preux wins via decision | Check the UFC Odds
