PFL Africa hosts their first show this weekend on Saturday at 10:30 am. The main card is pretty stacked so I look forward to it. There is their PFL Africa tournament on the prelims but my professors decided it would be a good idea to give me a quiz worth a percentage of my grade due on the first week of my return to university so I won't find the time to look into all the fights as well as continue my DWCS preparation.
JOHNNY EBLEN (16-0) vs. COSTELLO VAN SEENIS (16-3) – Bellator Middleweight Championship
According to tapology this fight is for the Bellator belt which isn't confusing at all. Eblen is of course the champion and has proven to be a very solid fighter at the top of the PFL/Bellator ranks. He is a wrestler with pretty decent boxing and pressure. van Steenis is a well rounded fighter who is dangerous on the feet as well as in the grappling. He has some recent quick finishes where he showed his KO ability as well as his ability to wrestle and threaten with submissions. van Steenis will always be dangerous on the feet here but Eblen should be able to overwhelm him with pressure. It is no secret that Eblen is unhappy with his PFL contract and perhaps that is why his PFL performances have been quite unimpressive. Despite the drop off in performance recently he should be able to get the wrestling offense going due to his pressure forward style.
Pick: Johnny Eblen by decision. Medium confidence.
DAKOTA DITCHEVA (14-0) vs. SUMIKO INABA (8-1) – Women's Flyweight
Ditcheva is literally better everywhere and has a size advantage.
Pick: Dakota Ditcheva by KO/TKO. High confidence.
COREY ANDERSON (18-6) vs. DENIS GOLTSOV (36-8) – Heavyweight
Anderson is now moving up to heavyweight after winning the Bellator title against Karl Moore. I honestly think this might be the worst match up for him in the PFL though. Goltsov is 6'5″ and is surprisingly athletic, he is light on his feet and throws decent boxing combinations. The one thing you could critique him for is he wrestling defense but I am unsure if Anderson coming up from 205 will be able to find a lot of success. Anderson is a pretty boring wrestler who likes to control and land ground and pound. We have seen Goltsov struggle with this style in the past but he was still able to beat Linton Vassell and even submit Oleg Popov from his back. Striking wise I don't think Anderson is going to have as big of a speed advantage as you would expect. his boxing is pretty good and he holds a very tight guard with decent head movement. I still think we will see Goltsov find an opportunity to land and when he does he has shown he can knock out a lot of heavyweights.
Pick: Denis Goltsov by KO/TKO. Low confidence.
MAKKASHARIP ZHAYNUKOV (16-4) vs. TAKESHI IZUMI (6-3) – Lightweight
Zhaynukov is a very boring wrestler from Dagestan. His striking is surprisingly good but he does look to wrestle and control. Takeshi Izumi is a semi finalist in the 2017 Freestyle Wrestling World Championships, but he is small for the division. Zhaynukov might struggle more than expected to take down Izumi because of this but his striking is pretty good so I think he should have this fight covered.
Pick: Makkasharip Zhaynukov by decision. Medium-high confidence.
AJ MCKEE JR. (22-2) vs. AKHMED MAGOMEDOV (11-1) – Featherweight
McKee is moving back down to featherweight which is a move I like from him. He will be much bigger than Magomedov in this fight and on top of that we will also have a huge striking advantage. Magomedov needs to get the take down because if he doesn't his striking is quite average. He boxes with a very upright stance and doesn't have great movement. McKee should use his size advantage here to keep the fight on the feet and then look for big shots.
Pick: AJ McKee Jr. by KO/TKO. Medium-high confidence.
