The UFC 291 undercard will feature Roman Kopylov and Claudio Ribeiro locking horns for a middleweight bout. The event that is going to be in Salt Lake City, Utah will have Dustin Poirier vs Justin Gaethje as the headline event.
Both Kopylov and Ribeiro are coming from victories so they would like to continue the momentum. The Brazilian fighter Claudio Ribeiro’s last fight was at UFC 288 in May, this year. He defeated Joseph Holmes in the second round itself to secure a victory by technical knock-out.
Roman Kopylov will take on Claudio Ribeiro at #UFC291 on July 29.#UFC291 #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/l1Vft2eBbh
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) May 31, 2023
Roman Kopylov on the other hand, last fought in January, this year against the American middleweight Punahele Soriano at UFC Fight Night 217. The 32-year-old Russian won by a technical knock-out in the second round of the bout. The TKO came after a superb body-kick which also earned him a bonus for ‘Performance of the Night’.
Before this bout, Kopylov locked horns with Alessio Di Chirico in September 2022 at UFC Fight Night 209 where he won by a knock-out in the last round of the fight. Let us now have a closer look at the stats of both the middleweight fighters and compare them head to head for predicting our winner for this fight.
UFC 291: Roman Kopylov vs. Claudio Ribeiro stats
Stats | Roman Kopylov | Claudio Ribeiro |
---|---|---|
Wins | 10 | 11 |
Losses | 2 | 3 |
Height | 6 ft 0 in | 6 ft 1 in |
Division | Middleweight | Middleweight |
Reach | 75 in | 77 in |
Roman Kopylov vs. Claudio Ribeiro: Fight breakdown and prediction
Roman Kopylov and Claudio Ribeiro have similar stats and record in the UFC. So, a prediction between the two becomes somewhat tricky. The Southpaw from Russia, Roman Kopylov won 2 fights from his last 4 fights. In both his wins, the fighter’s striking has been top-class. In his last fight against Soriano, he launched back-to-back kicks followed by a series of punches that hurt his opponent and forced the referee to stop the fight.
Coming to his opponent, Claudio Ribeiro entered the UFC after participating in the Dana White Contender Series in 2022. After a loss in his debut in the promotion, Ribero agreed to fight with Joseph Holmes despite the fact that the latter missed weight. The Brazilian’s striking is also no less as he has all 11 of his wins in MMA by knockout or TKO.
With both men eyeing to make a name for themselves by putting up a good fight at UFC 291, it is expected to be a close contest. As per our prediction for the fight, Roman Kopylov is expected to win against Claudio Ribeiro by KO/TKO.