UFC Vegas 16: John Allan vs. Roman Dolidze Picks, Odds, and Predictions
2020-12-05 22:30:00 EDT
Roman Dolidze and John Allan fight Saturday in UFC Vegas 16 at the UFC APEX.
Roman Dolidze enters this fight with a 7-0 record and has won 57 percent of his fights by knockout. This will be Dolidze’s second fight of the year and he’s coming off a July win over Khadis Ibragimov. Dolidze is averaging 4.47 significant strikes per minute with an accuracy percentage of 86 percent. Dolidze is averaging zero takedowns with an accuracy percentage of zero percent. Dolidze is coming off a first round knockout at UFC Fight Night 172, his UFC debut where he landed 19 total strikes and 86 percent of his significant strikes. It was Dolidze’s first fight in about a year and a half, as he came over from the WWFC, and he looked pretty much flawless. Dolidze has won most of his fights by knockout, as he has a great jab and powerful overhands and can stun just about anybody in this division with a clean shot. However, Dolidze comes from a sambo background and is a world grappling champion, so he’s most comfortable on the canvas and won his first three fights by submission, two of which were finished with a heel hook. At 32 years old, Dolidze is a bit of a late bloomer to the MMA side, but he’s clearly a balanced and dangerous fighter at this stage.
John Allan enters this fight with a 13-5-1 record and has won 69 percent of his fights by knockout. Allan has won five of his last seven fights and is coming off a July (2019) no contest against Mike Rodriguez. Allan is averaging 3.59 significant strikes per minute with an accuracy percentage of 48 percent. Allan is averaging 2.54 takedowns with an accuracy percentage of 66 percent. Allan is coming off a fight where he landed 75 total strikes, 42 percent of his significant strikes and produced four takedowns. However, Allan hasn’t fought since UFC Fight Night 155, so it’s going to be interesting to see what he looks like after such a long layoff. Allan is a technical fighter who has a background in Muay Thai, and he’s a powerful striker who has produced knockouts in seven of his last nine wins. Allan is most comfortable on his feet where he can thitem an impressive jab and mix in leg kicks, but he can be a bit wild at times and it opens up counters. Allan has to improve his takedown defense and grappling in order to take that next step in his career at 27 years old.
Allan has the power to make this fight interesting, but he’s not as sharp with his strikes as his opponent, and he’s badly outmatched in the grappling and wrestling department. Dolidze has clear advantages across the board in this fight and its kind of surprising this line isn’t steeper. I don’t like this matchup at all for Allan.
Dolidze wins this fight.
