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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Matt Erickson

UFC Fight Night 223 predictions: See our three unanimous picks in Vegas

Yadong
vs.
Simon
Borralho
vs.
Oleksiejczuk
Brundage
vs.
Vieira
Erosa
vs.
Padilla
Cortes-Acosta
vs.
Rogerio
Quinlan
vs.
Waters
MMA Junkie readers’
consensus picks
63-41

Simon
(59%)

Borralho
(79%)

Vieira
(75%)

Erosa
(70%)

Cortes-Acosta
(60%)

Quinlan
(86%)
Matt Erickson
@MattE
67-37

Yadong

Borralho

Vieira

Padilla

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
Simon Samano
@SJSamano
67-37

Simon

Borralho

Vieira

Padilla

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
George Garcia
@MMAjunkieGeorge
66-38

Simon

Borralho

Vieira

Erosa

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
Nolan King
@mma_kings
66-38

Yadong

Borralho

Vieira

Padilla

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
Matthew Wells
@MrMWells
64-40

Simon

Borralho

Vieira

Padilla

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
Mike Bohn
@MikeBohn
63-41
2014 Champion

Simon

Borralho

Vieira

Erosa

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
Abbey Subhan
@kammakaze
60-44

Simon

Borralho

Vieira

Padilla

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
Ken Hathaway
@kenshathaway
-60-44
2018, 2022 Champion

Simon

Borralho

Brundage

Padilla

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
Brian Garcia
@thegoze
58-46
2017 Champion

Simon

Borralho

Vieira

Erosa

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
Danny Segura
@dannyseguratv
58-46

Simon

Borralho

Vieira

Padilla

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan
Farah Hannoun
@Farah_Hannoun
57-47

Yadong

Borralho

Vieira

Erosa

Cortes-Acosta

Quinlan

The UFC stays in Las Vegas this week with a key bantamweight matchup atop the card.

UFC Fight Night 223 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card streams on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.

(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)

In the main event, Ricky Simon (20-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) takes on Song Yadong (19-7-1 MMA, 8-2-1 UFC) in a 125-pound matchup originally set for a co-main event this past Saturday. Simon is a slight -120 favorite at the betting window. The comeback on Yadong is +100, making these some of the stickiest main event odds in the UFC this year. Our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers have Simon with a big eight ahead of Yadong, who has just three head nods.

In the co-feature, Caio Borralho (13-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is the biggest favorite on the card at nearly 4-1 in his middleweight bout against Michal Oleksiejczuk (18-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC). He’s also one of our three unanimous picks.

Also on the main card, Cody Brundage (8-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) takes on Rodolfo Vieira (8-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in a middleweight bout. Vieira is about a -250 favorite and is a near-unanimous pick at 10-1.

Julian Erosa (28-10 MMA, 6-6 UFC) is a slight favorite with the oddsmakers in his featherweight bout against Fernando Padilla (14-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC). But it’s Padilla who has a 7-4 picks lead.

Although unbeaten heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is a slight underdog against Marcos Rogerio (20-8-1 MMA, 9-6 UFC), he’s the second of our three unanimous picks.

And to open the main card, Josh Quinlan (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is our third unanimous pick in his welterweight bout against short-notice opponent Trey Waters (7-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC). Quinlan nearly is a 2-1 favorite in the fight.

In the MMA Junkie consensus picks, Simon (59 percent), Borralho (79 percent), Vieira (75 percent), Erosa (70 percent), Cortes-Acosta (60 percent) and Quinlan (86 percent) are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 223.

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