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Middleweights

Oskar Piechota (11-3-1) vs. Marc-Andre Barriault (11-4)

ODDS: Piechota (-135), Barriault (+115)

Two middleweights desperate for a victory square off in this one. Quebec’s Barriault had enough regional success to come in with some hype, but success in the UFC looked to be a tough ask. His victories were usually either narrow decisions or comeback affairs, which raised some questions about what he would be able to do against a better level of competition. “Power Bar” did at least succeed in making fights against Andrew Sanchez and Krzysztof Jotko ugly affairs, but he got picked apart by the much quicker Jun Yong Park in December. He will look to rebound against Poland’s Piechota, who has had his own difficulties translating a patient and counter-heavy style to the UFC level. Admittedly, the UFC has done Piechota no favors by putting him against an elite grappler in Rodolfo Vieira and a power puncher in Punahele Soriano in his last two fights, but the Pole was already showing issues leading a fight and managing his gas tank. This should be a weird fight and a hard one to parse. Barriault is definitely the harder hitter, but he is not fast enough to shock Piechota for a knockout. That means it is difficult to tell if Piechota will be cowed by the Canadian’s physicality or have enough confidence to simply pick off Barriault where he can. This feels like an ugly split decision in which Barriault lands the more impactful blows but Piechota is more accurate. The pick is Piechota on points.

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