The MMA Daily

We have a potential pink slip fight in the Middleweight division, as Alessio Di Chirico takes on Roman Kopylov. A loser of four of the past five fights, Di Chirico is in danger of seeing his UFC tenure come to an end. With an impressive knockout over Joaquin Buckley standing as the lone win, Di Chirico has shown that he has the ability to be much better than this skid indicates. Meanwhile, Kopylov comes into this fight still seeking his first UFC victory. Having signed with the promotion in 2019, the once prospect has seen injuries and lack of success put him in danger of being axed.

With a spot on the main card despite both men’s woes, I expect them to put their best foot forward in doing whatever it takes to win. While this fight is essentially a coin flip, I’m going to side with Kopylov. The reason behind backing Kopylov is more so due to Di Chirico. While I believe the Italian is the more well rounded of the two, he has been dropped in two of the last three fights and finished in the most recent fight in seventeen seconds. With that in mind, and given Kopylov has excellent takedown defense, I believe this fight will take place mainly on the feet. A dangerous striker, Kopylov features quick hands and excellent combination. Known to explode on a dime, it’s no secret that Kopylov is a threat on the feet. Which is evident by the fact that all eight of his wins have come via knockout. Make it nine, as I have the Russian notching UFC victory number one by knockout.