UFC Fight Night Rio picks & predictions for Charles Oliveira vs. Mateusz Gamrot

The UFC returns to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Saturday (October 11) for another UFC Fight Night event, and MMA KO’s Drew Beaupré is here to provide predictions for all 12 fights on the card.

The event was supposed to be headlined by a lightweight bout between Charles Oliveira and Rafael Fiziev. After Fiziev was forced to withdraw with an injury, former UFC lightweight titleholder Oliveira will now square off with #8-ranked contender Mateusz Gamrot.

A former UFC champion will also be in action in the night’s co-main event, as Deiveson Figueiredo looks to snap a two-fight skid when he takes on Montel Jackson in a bantamweight contest.

UFC Fight Night Rio Main Card Predictions

Charles Oliveira vs. Mateusz Gamrot

Rafael Dos Anjos (blue gloves) fights Mateusz Gamrot (red gloves) during UFC 299 at Kayesa Center. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

There was some significant fan concern when Oliveira decided to make a fairly quick turnaround from being knocked out by Ilia Topuria to meet Rafael Fiziev at UFC Rio. Gamrot obviously isn’t a major knockout threat like Fiziev is, but something about this matchup still just doesn’t feel quite right for the former lightweight king.

(Pick: Gamrot)

Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Montel Jackson

Cory Sandhagen (red gloves) fights Deiveson Figueiredo (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Wells Fargo Arena. | Reese Strickland-Imagn Images

Jackson is currently on a huge win streak and certainly deserves this opportunity against Figueiredo, but I’m not quite ready to write the former flyweight champion off yet given that his last two losses came against Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen.

(Pick: Figueiredo)

Vicente Luque vs. Joel Alvarez

Joel Alvarez (red gloves) fights Drakkar Klose (blue gloves) at Amalie Arena. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Luque was originally booked for a much more reasonable matchup against Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC Rio, but now he’s set to take on an extremely dangerous finisher in Joel Alvarez in what will be the Spaniard’s welterweight debut.

(Pick: Alvarez)

Jhonata Diniz vs. Mario Pinto

Jhonata Diniz (red gloves) fights Alvin Hines (blue gloves) during UFC 317 at T-Mobile Arena. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

It’s a bit of a surprise to see the UFC match up two heavyweights that the promotion seems to have farily high hopes for, and I’m going to slightly lean with Diniz to get the better of the striking exchanges and hand Pinto his first professional loss.

(Pick: Diniz)

Ricardo Ramos vs. Kaan Ofli

Ricardo Ramos (red gloves) reacts after fighting Danny Chavez (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Moody Center. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

You never quite know what you’re going to get from Ramos when he steps into the Octagon, but “Carachinha” should be able to handle Ofli and hand the Turkish fighter what would be a third-straight loss since he joined the UFC.

(Pick: Ramos)

UFC Fight Night Rio Preliminary Card Predictions

Lucas Almeida vs. Michael Aswell

Michael Aswell during his UFC debut against Bolaji Oki. | (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

These featherweights should put on an entertaining scrap to close out the prelim action for UFC Rio. Almeida is in need of a win after going 1-3 across his last four fights, but I think Aswell is capable of outlasting the Brazilian after coming up short in his UFC debut.

(Pick: Aswell)

Jafel Filho vs. Clayton Carpenter

Tagir Ulanbekov (red gloves) fights Clayton Carpenter (blue gloves) during UFC 311 at Intuit Dome. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

This is one of several low-profile by very well-booked prelim bouts at UFC Rio, and I think Carpenter will be the one to rebound from his last outing and start trying to finally build some momentum in the UFC.

(Pick: Carpenter)

Vitor Petrino vs. Thomas Petersen

Thomas Petersen (red gloves) reacts after defeating Don'Tale Mayes (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Wells Fargo Arena. | Lily Smith/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

I’m surprised to see Petrino lined as such a heavy favorite given that he only just moved up to the heavyweight division. He might just get starched in the early going, but I’ll side with the more experienced heavyweight in Petersen to pull off the upset.

(Pick: Petersen)

Irina Alekseeva vs. Bia Mesquita

Mesquita is an intriguing addition to the UFC women’s bantamweight division, and I expect that they’ll try to move the 34-year-old along fairly quickly if she can pick up a dominant win in her promotional debut against Alekseeva.

(Pick: Mesquita)

Lucas Rocha vs. Stewart Nicoll

Lucas Rocha will make his second Octagon appearance at UFC Rio. | (Zuffa LLC)

This is a possible sleeper candidate for “Fight of the Night” at UFC Rio, and I’m picking Rocha to feed off the energy of the Brazilian crowd and earn his first UFC victory.

(Pick: Rocha)

Julia Polastri vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz

Julia Polastri during her fight with Cory McKenna. | (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Fans have already seen Kowalkiewicz rebound and put a winning run together following five-straight losses, but I have to wonder if a third loss in a row to Polastri at UFC Rio might encourage the former title challenger to leave her gloves in the Octagon.

(Pick: Polastri)

Saimon Oliveira vs. Luan Lacerda

Luan Lacerda (red gloves) fights Cody Stamann (blue gloves) during UFC 283 at Jeunesse Arena. | Jason da Silva-Imagn Images

Oliveira was already probably fighting for his job even before he missed weight ahead of UFC Rio. He’s coming off a significant layoff, but I expect that Lacerda will hand his countryman a fourth-straight loss and likely bounce the Brazilian from the UFC.

(Pick: Lacerda)

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

More MMA Knockout News

• Alex Pereira called out by undefeated UFC champion for surprise superfight

• Magomed Ankalaev releases first statement after losing UFC title to Alex Pereira

• Alex Pereira reveals he suffered brutal injury during UFC 320 fight

• UFC's Dana White makes bold claim about Merab Dvalishvili's bantamweight GOAT status

Stick with MMAKnockout for more FREE coverage of the UFC and MMA.

Follow MMAKnockout on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.