UFC Vegas 35 Main Card: Ricky Turcios vs Brady Hiestand – Prediction and Analysis

UFC Vegas 35 will take place this weekend with some exciting clashes on the platter for UFC fans. A featherweight clash between Edson Barboza and Giga Chikadze headlines the event. While fans will have an eye on that, there is also a bantamweight clash between TUF stars Ricky Turcios and Brady Hiestand to look out for.

Turcios had applied his trade for various other promotions before making his way to UFC. The gritty fighter has so far picked up 10 wins and has lost 2 fights in his professional career. Out of those 10 wins, 3 have come via KO/TKO, 1 via submissions, and 6 via decisions. He will look to make a strong start for himself in UFC events.

Hiestand too will make his UFC event debut after impressing in the TUF house. The 22-year-old fighter has so far picked up 5 wins and incurred 1 loss in his professional career. Out of those 5 wins, 2 have come via KO/TKO, 2 via submissions, and 1 via decision.

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Ricky Turcios vs Brady Hiestand- Analysis

If we compare their physical stats, Turcios stands at 5’9″ in height and has a reach of 71″. Meanwhile, ‘Bam Bam’ has a height of 5’8″ and has a reach of 71″.

These two promising men had an impactful time in the TUF house. They put up some exciting and entertaining performances to show their class and pedigree. Turcios is an offensive fighter and his persistent speed proved too much for Team Ortega‘s fighters.

Hiestand is quite young, but one can’t get away without praising his grit on the show. The match could be a high-paced one, with both fighters looking to strike big. ‘Pretty Ricky’ is yet to utilize his gifted cardio abilities to the max and this could prove to be the deciding factor.

Hiestand has a good standing game and is certainly a stronger grappler than ‘Pretty Ricky’. He could certainly drag Ricky to the canvas and damage the latter with his strikes. Although Hiestand had to muster hard against Josh Rettinghouse, that would have given him the confidence to dig deep in future fights.

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But Turcios too had got the better of technically superior Dan Argueta as the fight moved ahead. However, Hiestand’s game gives more assurance than Ricky’s. So, it could be a grind for the two, but Hiestand may edge him in the end.

Final Prediction: Hiestand by split decision