Abdul Razak Alhassan and Cesar Almeida meet Saturday on the UFC Fight Night 249 main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
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Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cesar Almeida UFC Fight Night 249 preview
Alhassan (12-6 MMA, 6-6 UFC) is looking to put a frustrating stretch behind him. His last victory came against Claudio Ribeiro in January 2023. Since then, he lost by submission to Joe Pyfer, and then had a no contest just seconds into a fight against Cody Brundage. Alhassan also had an October fight scrapped on the scale when Josh Fremd missed weight. … Almeida (6-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) is coming off a three-fight 2024 campaign. In April, Almeida finished Dylan Budka in the second round, dropped a split decision to Roman Kopylov in June, and then rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Ihor Potieria in October.
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cesar Almeida UFC Fight Night 249 expert pick, prediction
Since we can’t go to the Apex without the UFC force-feeding us middleweights as the featured fights, Alhassan and Almeida will throw down for our viewing pleasure.
Although wrestling Almeida appears to be the obvious answer on paper, I’m not sure Alhassan is the right man for that job.
Despite his nickname being “Judo Thunder,” Alhassan has not exactly been a reliable grappling threat during his UFC tenure. Even when getting aggressive in the takedown department, Alhassan hasn’t shown a potent submission game and his gas tank makes grappling output an arguable liability.
Whereas Almeida, despite still being green with parts of his MMA game, has demonstrated some of the savvy that you’d like to see from former kickboxers or muay Thai fighters.
Alhassan can be one of the more frustrating fighters to try and forecast, so I’m just hoping that we get an exciting contest.
I’ll pick Almeida to survive any potentially early storms en route to scoring a stoppage by strikes in Round 2.
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cesar Almeida UFC Fight Night 249 odds
The oddsmakers and the public are favoring the Brazilian fighter, listing Almeida -260 and Alhassan +205 via FanDuel.
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cesar Almeida UFC Fight Night 249 start time, how to watch
As the main card opener, Alhassan and Almeida are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 8:40 p.m. ET. The fight will stream on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 249.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cesar Almeida prediction, pick, start time for UFC Fight Night 249
