UFC on Versus 3 – Alessio Sakara vs. Chris Weidman Prediction

ALESSIO SAKARA vs. CHRIS WEIDMAN

Fight Overview:  Matt Serra protege Chris Weidman makes his UFC debut against skilled Italian striker Alessio Sakara.  Weidman is the more complete fighter, but has only 4 fights under his belt and has never appeared on a stage this big, while Sakara is a very dangerous kickboxer with a lot of big fight experience, so this one should be telling about just how much upside the undefeated Weidman really has.

Weidman’s Strengths:  He has very good jiu-jitsu, solid wrestling, good ground and pound, and dangerous power punching with a lot of knockout power.

Weidman’s Weaknesses:  He has only four fights as a professional, all against lesser competition on smaller shows, so this is a big step up for him in a number of ways.

Sakara’s Strengths:  Sakara is a great striker with a solid chin, an aggressive style, good handspeed, good accuracy, and the ability to score knockouts with punches and kicks.  He also has a huge experience advantage in this fight.

Sakara’s Weaknesses:  He doesn’t have much of a ground game at all, and is going to have trouble preventing takedowns and avoiding submissions.

The Verdict:  This is a winnable fight for Weidman if he has a smart game plan.  He can probably hold his own in the standup, but Sakara is the slicker and more experienced striker.  The big gap will be on the ground, and if Weidman can get this fight to the mat he should be able to do enough to control the fight and earn the upset decision win.