| Costa vs. Vettori |
Dawson vs. Glenn |
Clark vs. Edwards |
Caceres vs. Choi |
Grant vs. Trinaldo |
Negumereanu vs. Villanueva |
|
| MMA Junkie readers’ consensus picks 2021: 167-97 |
 Costa (57%) |
 Dawson (87%) |
 Clark (75%) |
 Choi (50.1%) |
 Trinaldo (63%) |
 Negumereanu (77%) |
| John Morgan @MMAjunkieJohn 2021: 172-92 |
 Vettori |
Dawson |
Clark |
Choi |
Trinaldo |
Negumereanu |
| Simon Samano @SJSamano 2021: 166-98 |
Vettori |
Dawson |
 Edwards |
Choi |
Trinaldo |
Negumereanu |
| Nolan King @mma_kings 2021: 164-100 |
Vettori |
Dawson |
Edwards |
Choi |
Trinaldo |
Negumereanu |
| Dan Tom @DanTomMMA 2021: 161-103  2020 Champion |
Vettori |
 Glenn |
Clark |
Choi |
Trinaldo |
 Villanueva |
| Ken Hathaway @kenshathaway 2021: 160-104 2018 Champion |
Costa |
Dawson |
Edwards |
Choi |
 Grant |
Negumereanu |
| Matt Erickson @MMAjunkieMatt 2021: 160-104 |
Vettori |
Dawson |
Clark |
Choi |
Trinaldo |
Negumereanu |
| Mike Bohn @MikeBohnMMA 2021: 159-105 2014 Champion |
Vettori |
Dawson |
Clark |
 Caceres |
Trinaldo |
Negumereanu |
| Brian Garcia @thegoze 2021: 155-109 2017 Champion |
Costa |
Dawson |
Clark |
Choi |
Trinaldo |
Negumereanu |
| Danny Segura @dannyseguratv 2021: 154-110 |
Vettori |
Dawson |
Edwards |
Caceres |
Trinaldo |
Negumereanu |
| George Garcia @MMAjunkieGeorge 2021: 153-111 |
Vettori |
Dawson |
Clark |
Caceres |
Grant |
Negumereanu |
| Farah Hannoun @Farah_Hannoun 2021: 151-113 |
Costa |
Dawson |
Clark |
Choi |
Trinaldo |
Negumereanu |
| Abbey Subhan @kammakaze 2021: 150-115 |
Costa |
Dawson |
Clark |
Choi |
Trinaldo |
Negumereanu |
| Matthew Wells @MrMWells 2021: 90-58 |
Vettori |
Dawson |
Clark |
Caceres |
Grant |
Negumereanu |
The UFC stays home in Las Vegas this week with a key middleweight matchup atop the card – thought it won’t be at that weight class.
UFC Fight Night 196 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, [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag] (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) takes on [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag] (17-4-1 MMA, 7-3-1 UFC) in a fight between the most recent two middleweight title challengers. They both lost to champion Israel Adesanya. But this fight won’t be at middleweight thanks to Costa’s failure to make weight. They’ll fight at 205 pounds after Costa came into fight week heavy and intially asked for a catchweight. Vettori is a -185 favorite at Tipico; the comeback on Costa is +140. Our 13 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers have Vettori with a 9-4 picks lead.
In the co-feature, [autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) is the biggest favorite on the card at -420 in his lightweight fight against [autotag]Ricky Glenn[/autotag] (22-6-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC). He’s a near-unanimous pick from our staff members at 12-1.
Also on the main card, [autotag]Jessica-Rose Clark[/autotag] (10-6 MMA, 3-2 UFC) takes on [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a women’s bantamweight bout. Clark is a -160 favorite, and she’s got a sizable 9-4 picks lead.
[autotag]Alex Caceres[/autotag] (18-12 MMA, 13-10 UFC) meets [autotag]Seungwoo Choi[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in a featherweight bout. Choi nearly is a 3-1 favorite, and he’s up big in the picks at 9-4.
It’s a close fight at the betting window between welterweights [autotag]Dwight Grant[/autotag] (11-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) and [autotag]Francisco Trinaldo[/autotag] (26-8 MMA, 16-7 UFC). Trinaldo is just a -135 favorite, but he’s got a big 10-3 edge in the picks.
And to open the main card, [autotag]Nicolae Negumereanu[/autotag] (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is a -230 favorite at light heavyweight against [autotag]Ike Villanueva[/autotag] (18-12 MMA, 1-3 UFC). He’s a near-unanimous pick at 12-1 from our staff members.
In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Costa (57 percent), Dawson (87 percent), Clark (75 percent), Choic (50.1 percent), Trinaldo (63 percent) and Negumereanu (77 percent) are the choices.
Check out all the picks above.