Da’Mon Blackshear and Cody Gibson meet Saturday on the main card of UFC Fight Night 254 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
Last event: 2-3
UFC main cards, 2025: 19-16-1
Diyar Nurgozhay vs. Brendson Ribeiro UFC Fight Night 254 preview
Nurgozhay (10-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) debuts following an appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series in October. The undefeated fighter from Kazakhstan has finished eight of his 10 professional bouts. … Ribeiro (16-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC) picked up his first UFC victory in his last outing, a split decision nod against Caio Machado in November. Prior to that, his first two outings in the promotion didn’t go his way, losing by TKO in Round 1 to Mingyang Zhang, followed by a majority decision loss to Magomed Gadzhiyasulov.
Diyar Nurgozhay vs. Brendson Ribeiro UFC Fight Night 254 expert pick, prediction
Filing out the main card is a light-heavyweight affair between Nurgozhay and Ribeiro. Undefeated at 10-0, Nurgozhay is one of the few prospects this division has to offer.
A southpaw who has serviceable grappling and the ability to build off of offense, Nurhozhay is a fighter who I could see climbing his way into the rankings sooner rather than later. Nurgozhay had an unfortunate weight miss on the scales, but I still give him a stamina and output edge over Ribeiro.
Even though Ribeiro can come out hot, his do-or-die sensibilities tend to get the best of him at the higher levels. And despite technically standing at 1-0 opposite UFC-level southpaws (narrowly edging out Ciao Machado), Ribeiro looked lost for any real ideas and still faded down the stretch.
Unless these two sort things out within the first three minutes, then I suspect we get a bit of a slogging affair that hits the scorecards.
A knockout win for the Kazak fighter is the most likely outcome, but I’ll pick Nurgozhay to fight more conservatively en route to a decision win.
Diyar Nurgozhay vs. Brendson Ribeiro UFC Fight Night 254 odds
The oddsmakers and the public are heavily favoring the fighter from Kazakhstan, listing Nurgozhay -400 and Ribeiro +290 via FanDuel.
Diyar Nurgozhay vs. Brendson Ribeiro UFC Fight Night 254 start time, how to watch
Nurgozhay and Ribeiro are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 7:40 p.m. ET. The fight will stream on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 254.
