On Saturday night, UFC Fight Night 186 will unfold at the UFC APEX Facility in Las Vegas. Jairzinho Rozenstruik meets Ciryl Gane in a heavyweight bout that comprises the night’s main event. In the co-headliner, Nikita Krylov and Magomed Ankalaev will tangle in the light heavyweight division. You can catch the whole night’s action on ESPN+.
As you consider your UFC betting choices for the night, don’t forget to read our predictions for the key tilts.
UFC Fight Night 186: Rozenstruik vs Gane Preview
Main Card (ESPN+)
Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs Ciryl Gane (Heavyweight)
Nikita Krylov vs Magomed Ankalaev (Light Heavyweight)
Montana De La Rosa vs Mayra Bueno Silva (Women’s Flyweight)
Pedro Munhoz vs Jimmie Rivera (Bantamweight)
Angela Hill vs Ashley Yoder (Women’s Strawweight)
Alex Caceres vs Kevin Croom (Featherweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
Thiago Moises vs Alexander Hernandez (Lightweight)
Sabina Mazo vs Alexis Davis (Women’s Bantamweight)
Vince Cachero vs Ronnie Lawrence (Bantamweight)
Dustin Jacoby vs Maxim Grishin (Light Heavyweight)
Ciryl Gane (7-0, 4-0 UFC, -265) vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik (11-1, 5-1 UFC, +225) is the latest step in Gane’s journey in MMA. He only needed three pro fights to get the call to UFC after showing he could dispatch opponents with a lot of agility for his size at the regional level. He won three fights between August 2019 and the end of the year, two by submission. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic, some injuries and some visa problems kept him to one fight — a December tilt where he dealt Junior dos Santos a knockout.
Now he gets a shot at one of the top heavyweights in UFC. Rozenstruik came into UFC as a late replacement near the start of 2019, and he delivered a surprising knockout win over Junior Albini. He only needed 38 seconds combined to knock out Allen Crowder and Andrei Arlovski, and then he beat Alistair Overeem in a main event to earn contender status. His May 2020 bout against Francis Ngannou did not go well, as Ngannou used a pressure game to deliver a knockout. In his last fight, Rozenstruik beat dos Santos.
Gane has the advantage in mobility, kickboxing, defense and the clinch game. However, Rozenstruik is the more dangerous fighter, as he just needs one crack in the opponent’s defense to deliver some counters that alter the landscape of the fight. As we saw in Derrick Lewis’ win over Curtis Blaydes, that approach often works in the heavyweight division.
Final Prediction: Rozenstruik wins via KO
Magomed Ankalaev (14-1, 5-1 UFC, -340) vs Nikita Krylov (27-7, 8-5 UFC, +280) gives us yet another fight in the indomitable career of Nikita Krylov. Krylov started out UFC in unimpressive fashion, as his debut against Soa Palelei saw both men get too worn out even to put up an entertaining fight. However, his next fight was a knockout win over Walt Harris. After that, he worked on conditioning, moved down to light heavyweight, and used a five-bout winning streak to become a contender. He’s not the most skilled pugilist in the division, but his stamina and aggressiveness are elite, as he will roll the dice to go after a finish, even if it means running out of stamina, and he usually delivers the finish. His last fight was a win over Johnny Walker, in which Krylov tried to bring things to the mat. It was an ugly fight, but a win is a win.
Next up is a tough match against Ankalaev. His debut came in a shocking loss, as he knocked Paul Craig all around the ring until the last ten seconds of the match, when Craig tried a triangle choke as a last-second prayer, and it actually worked, as Ankalaev tapped out in the match’s last section. Since then, though, he has gone five fights without even a whisper of difficulty. Ankalaev’s last two fights came against Ion Cutelaba, the first of which ended oddly as Cutelaba acted as though the punches were doing more damage than they wer, and the referee ended the fight thinking Cutelaba was in trouble. Ankalaev delivered a more authentic first-round finish in their rematch, and Krylov is Ankalaev’s next step toward contention.
Ankalaev likes to fight slow and steady, while Krylov likes to bring pressure. Both fighters have knockout power, but Krylov’s chin is legendary, so Ankalaev will have to get the fight to the ground and then deliver enough pain to get the stoppage.
Prediction: Ankalaev wins via stoppage
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