The MMA Daily

The curtain jerker comes in the Women’s Bantamweight division, as Mayra Bueno Silva takes on Stephanie Egger. Coming off a decision victory over Yanan Wu, Silva comes into this fight looking to pick up her first UFC win-streak. Having gone 3-2-1 in six fights with the promotion, the Brazilian has shown talent, but very little consistency. If there was ever a time to turn things around though, it would be now. Meanwhile, Egger strolls into this fight off back-to-back stoppage victories. Looking impressive as ever, the Judo black belt finds herself in a fight where she could really cement her presence within the division. Perhaps even crack the division’s top fifteen.

An important fight for both, this should be an intriguing battle. Silva is a dangerous submission artist, who has keyed on being a striker. Attempting only one takedown in her six UFC fights, the Brazilian has made it clear, that she wants the fight on the feet. As precarious as that may be, Silva has boasted solid output and impressive accuracy striking. While she incorporates antics that do not necessarily aide her in winning, she does it to egg her opponents into a brawl. Absorbing nearly five significant strikes per minute, it would be wise if Silva maybe worked on her defense instead. Unlikely to attack those vulnerabilities though is Egger. A Judo gold medalist in the 2010 U23 European Championships, Egger has utilized her craft in getting the fight to the ground. With solid grappling and good submission abilities, Egger has proven that even her guard is a dangerous position to be in with her. However, if an opponent can keep the fight vertical, Egger isn’t much of a striker. An area where clearly she needs to work on if she has aspirations of being a champion.

In what should be a fun fight to kick off the card, I’m going to side with Egger. Knowing that Silva is a dangerous submission artist, things could get dicey. Then again, in three fights where Silva was taken down at least two times, she was controlled for four minutes or more. Her record in those fights, is 0-2-1. Knowing Egger is going to look to get the fight to mat, I believe that she has the grappling to rack up control time. A blueprint that has neutralized the Brazilian. With that said, I predict that Egger will win via decision.