UFC 317 Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira prelim fights picks & predictions

The UFC is in Las Vegas, NV for International Fight Week, and MMA KO’s Drew Beaupré is here to provide predictions for all seven of the prelim fights scheduled for UFC 317.

The event is headlined by a fight for the UFC’s vacant lightweight belt between former titleholder Charles Oliveira and Ilia Topuria, who will look to become a two-division UFC champion after he vacated the featherweight strap ahead of his full-time move to lightweight.

UFC gold will also be on the line in the co-main event when Alexandre Pantoja tries to defend his flyweight belt for the fourth time against Kai Kara-France, and the rest of the UFC 317 main card includes Brandon Royval vs. Joshua Van, Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano, and the PPV opener between Payton Talbott and Felipe Lima.

Ilia Topuria celebrates his championship victory against Alexander Volkanovski during UFC 298 at Honda Center. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

UFC 317 Preliminary Card Predictions

Jack Hermansson vs. Gregory Rodrigues

Gregory Rodrigues (red gloves) reacts to defeating Denis Tiuliulin (blue gloves) during UFC 292 at TD Garden. | Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Fans are well-aware at this point that Hermansson’s best path to victory is typically on the ground, and given Rodrigues’ own grappling prowess I have to pick “Robocop” to capitalize on what should be a significant power advantage if the fight stays standing.

(Pick: Rodrigues)

Hyder Amil vs. Jose Miguel Delgado

Jose Delgado during his UFC debut against Conor Matthews. — Jose Delgado during his UFC debut against Connor Matthews. | (MMA Junkie)

This promises to be a firefight between a pair of dangerous featherweight finishers, and I’ll side with Delgado to land something big and hand Amil the first loss of his professional fighting career.

(Pick: Delgado)

Viviane Araujo vs. Tracy Cortez

Viviane Araujo (red gloves) fights Karine Silva (blue gloves) in the Women’s Flyweight bout during UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

This fight between ranked women’s flyweights seems to be flying under the radar during the lead up to UFC 317, and even though Cortez isn’t far removed from a lengthy win streak I think Aurajo is capable of pulling off the minor upset.

(Pick: Araujo)

Terrance McKinney vs. Viacheslav Borshchev

Nazim Sadykhov (red gloves) fights Viacheslav Borshchev (blue gloves) during UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden. | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

It’s impressive how McKinney has managed to maintain his kill-or-be-killed style in what has become a lengthy run with the UFC, but with that in mind it’s hard to ignore that fact that Borshchev hasn’t lost via strikes up to this point.

(Pick: Borshchev)

UFC 317 Early Preliminary Card Predictions

Niko Price vs. Jacobe Smith

Jacobe Smith fighting Preston Parsons. | (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Price only needs to land one clean shot to score what would be a massive upset based on the pre-fight betting odds, but barring that the veteran is probably in for a tough night of work against Smith.

(Pick: Smith)

Jhonata Diniz vs. Alvin Hines

Marcin Tybura (red gloves) fights Jhonata Diniz (blue gloves) in the Heavyweight bout during UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Diniz was originally booked to face another striking specialist in Justin Tafa at UFC 317. This matchup with the debuting Hines may not tell us much about how he’s improved his overall MMA game, but it does at least give the Brazilian a good chance to rebound from his first loss.

(Pick: Diniz)

Christoper Ewert vs. Jackson McVey

Two undefeated debutants will now kick off UFC 317 after Sedriques Dumas withdrew from the card, and I’ll pick Ewert to score a big win after stepping in to fight McVey on just a few days’ notice.

(Pick: Ewert)

MMA KO will be providing comprehensive coverage for UFC 317 all throughout fight week, and be sure to check back on our homepage tomorrow for live results and highlights on fight night.

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