UFC 269: Oliveira vs Poirier- Sean O’Malley vs Raulian Paiva: Prediction and Analysis

UFC 269 will take place inside the T-Mobile Arena on 11th December. Headlined by the lightweight title fight (Dustin Poirier vs Charles Oliveira), the event has a stacked undercard. The massive fight that will kick off the main card will see bantamweights Sean O’Malley and Raulian Paiva take to the octagon.

O’Malley, a product of the Dana White’s Contender series, has only one loss in the UFC. He is on a two-fight win streak and will look to increase it to 3 to break into the top-15 of the bantamweight division.

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Meanwhile, the Brazilian Paiva, akin to his opponent, is also a product of DWCS. Unfortunately, he lost two fights right after his UFC debut. However, he regained his form and is currently on a three-fight undefeated streak.

As both the bantamweight combatants are unranked in the division, a win in this fight is important for them to move on to bigger things

Ahead of this intriguing bantamweight fight, let’s compare both the fighters’ career, strengths, and weaknesses to gauge a possible outcome of the fight.

Sean O’Malley vs Raulian Paiva: Prediction and Analysis

Sean O’Malley is one of the most popular names in the UFC for his unique fight style and charismatic persona. He has a professional fighting record of 14-1 under his name. ‘Suga’, a skilled knockout artist, has claimed 10 out of 14 wins via knockout.

On the other hand, Raulian Paiva, who has a professional MMA record of 21-3, has finished just seven fights (4 T/KO and 3 submissions). Hence, ‘Suga’ is the more adept fighter, but Paiva is the more seasoned campaigner.

Although Paiva is the more experienced combatant, O’Malley is the more experienced UFC fighter.

Coming into the fight, ‘Suga’ has a three-inch height and 2.5-inch reach advantage over the Brazilian. The former is an elite striker and lands a stunning 8.25 strikes per minute. This will be a worrying factor for Paiva, who has absorbed 4.9 strikes per minute.

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Even though the Brazilian might have some advantage on the ground, it won’t be a walk in the park for him to face O’Malley. The latter’s reach advantage will help him and he hits with power, as is clear with his 71% win rate via knockout.

‘Suga’ has an all-around skill set going into the fight. Given O’Malley’s results in his previous fights, the Brazilian might have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to topple him.

Final Prediction- Sean O’Malley defeats Raulian Paiva via knockout