A pair of strawweight mainstays will clash at Saturday's UFC event in Las Vegas, as Mackenzie Dern meets Yan Xiaonan in a five-round headliner. Check out our Dern-Xiaonan picks ahead of the bill's main event.
Dern entered the UFC as a jiu-jitsu phenom and a lauded blue-chipper in 2018, and she's since amassed a solid 7-2 record with four tapouts, as well as a hard-fought decision over Tecia Torres in her most recent outing.
As for Xiaonan, the 33-year-old has dropped two straight after getting her hand raised in each of her first six trips to the Octagon. The Chinese native fell to reigning queen Carla Esparza by TKO last year and was last seen dropping a razor-close split decision to Marina Rodriguez – a foe she and Dern have in common – at UFC 272 this past March.
Here are my Dern-Xiaonan picks and predictions for Saturday's UFC Fight Night main event (odds via Caesars Sportsbook; pick confidence is based on a 1-to-5-star scale).