UFC Fight Night 196 predictions: Marvin Vettori or Paulo Costa in 205-pound main event?

Check out our staff members’ picks for the UFC Fight Night 196 main event with Marvin Vettori vs. Paulo Costa at light heavyweight.

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
costa2021
Costa
(57%)
dawson2021
Dawson
(87%)
clark2021
Clark
(75%)
choi2021
Choi
(50.1%)
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
(63%)
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
(77%)
John Morgan
@MMAjunkieJohn
2021: 172-92
vettori2021
Vettori
dawson2021
Dawson
clark2021
Clark
choi2021
Choi
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Simon Samano
@SJSamano
2021: 166-98
vettori2021
Vettori
dawson2021
Dawson
edwards2021
Edwards
choi2021
Choi
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Nolan King
@mma_kings
2021: 164-100
vettori2021
Vettori
dawson2021
Dawson
edwards2021
Edwards
choi2021
Choi
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Dan Tom
@DanTomMMA
2021: 161-103
trophy copy 2020 Champion
vettori2021
Vettori
glenn2021
Glenn
clark2021
Clark
choi2021
Choi
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
villanueva2021
Villanueva
Ken Hathaway
@kenshathaway
2021: 160-104
trophy copy 2018 Champion
costa2021
Costa
dawson2021
Dawson
edwards2021
Edwards
choi2021
Choi
grant2021
Grant
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Matt Erickson
@MMAjunkieMatt
2021: 160-104
vettori2021
Vettori
dawson2021
Dawson
clark2021
Clark
choi2021
Choi
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Mike Bohn
@MikeBohnMMA
2021: 159-105
trophy copy 2014 Champion
vettori2021
Vettori
dawson2021
Dawson
clark2021
Clark
caceres2021
Caceres
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Brian Garcia
@thegoze
2021: 155-109
trophy copy 2017 Champion
costa2021
Costa
dawson2021
Dawson
clark2021
Clark
choi2021
Choi
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Danny Segura
@dannyseguratv
2021: 154-110
vettori2021
Vettori
dawson2021
Dawson
edwards2021
Edwards
caceres2021
Caceres
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
George Garcia
@MMAjunkieGeorge
2021: 153-111
vettori2021
Vettori
dawson2021
Dawson
clark2021
Clark
caceres2021
Caceres
grant2021
Grant
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Farah Hannoun
@Farah_Hannoun
2021: 151-113
costa2021
Costa
dawson2021
Dawson
clark2021
Clark
choi2021
Choi
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Abbey Subhan
@kammakaze
2021: 150-115
costa2021
Costa
dawson2021
Dawson
clark2021
Clark
choi2021
Choi
trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Matthew Wells
@MrMWells
2021: 90-58
vettori2021
Vettori
dawson2021
Dawson
clark2021
Clark
caceres2021
Caceres
grant2021
Grant
negumereanu2021
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.