UFC Vegas 14: Julian Marquez vs. Saparbek Safarov Picks and Predictions

Julian Marquez and Saparbek Safarov face off in a middleweight bout in a main card showdown at UFC Vegas 14 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. 

Julian “The Cuban Missile Crisis” Marquez comes into this fight with a 7-2 record overall and since coming into the UFC he has gone 2-1. The one loss however for Marquez was in his last fight against Alessio Di Chirico and it was a fight that he lost by split decision. Marquez tried two submission attempts in that fight, but he was taken down four times, and that led to a split decision loss. Marquez comes into this fight averaging 3.80 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 3.33 significant strikes per minute. Marquez wants to keep the fight on the feet and he is averaging 0.00 takedowns every 15 minutes. Marquez is good with the submission attempts and he averages three attempts every 15 minutes. The last win by Marquez was by guillotine choke. 

On the side of the octagon will be Saparbek Safarov who comes into this fight with a 9-3 record overall but since coming into the UFC he has a 1-3 record. Safarov’s last fight came against Rodolfo Vieira in May of 2020 and in that fight halfway through the first round he was caught in a bad position and that led to an arm triangle submission. Safarov comes into this fight averaging 4.03 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 2.96 significant strikes per minute. Safarov is averaging 2.52 takedowns every 15 minutes and he is successful on 41 percent of his takedown attempts. Safarov also stops 33 percent of his opponents' takedown attempts. 

AUTHOR: Shane Mickle

To Be Continued...