The UFC is in its home city again this week with a hard-hitting heavyweight against a submission specialist atop the card.
UFC on ESPN+32 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.
(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)
In the main event, former heavyweight title challenger Derrick Lewis (23-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) takes on Aleksei Oleinik (59-13-1 MMA, 8-4 UFC). Lewis is a 2-1 favorite in the fight, and he’s got the support of a whopping 13 of our 14 editors, writers, videographers and radio hosts in the picks.
In the co-main event, former middleweight champion Chris Weidman (14-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) tries to stop his slump when he meets Omari Akhmedov (20-4-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC). Weidman is the slight favorite at the betting window at -145, but it’s Akhmedov with a narrow 8-6 picks lead in a close fight among our staff members.
Also on the main card, Darren Stewart (11-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is a -160 favorite in his middleweight bout against Maki Pitolo (13-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC), and he has an 8-6 picks lead.
Yana Kunitskaya (12-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) is more than a 2-1 favorite in her women’s bantamweight bout against Julija Stoliarenko (9-3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), and she’s got a big 12-2 blowout in the picks.
And to open the main card, Beneil Dariush (18-4-1 MMA, 12-4-1 UFC) takes on Scott Holtzman (14-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) at lightweight. Dariush is the favorite at nearly 2-1, and he’s got a heavy 11-3 lead in the picks.
In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Lewis (65 percent), Akhmedov (53 percent), Stewart (75 percent), Kunitskaya (82 percent) and Dariush (85 percent) are the choices.
Check out all the picks above.