MMA Preview – Alex Oliveira vs Max Griffin at UFC 248
THE FACTS
When is UFC 248? Sunday 8th March, 2020 - 01:00 start (UK)
Where is UFC 248? T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada
What channel is UFC 248 on? BT Sport 2
Where can I stream UFC 248? BT Sport subscribers can stream the fight online via the BT Sport website
For viewers in the United States, the event will be shown live on ESPN+ which can you sign up to here!
Are tickets still available for UFC 248? https://www.ufc.com/tickets
THE STATISTICS
THE LOWDOWN
Two welterweights desperate for a win kick off the main card as Alex Oliveira and Max Griffin look to bounce back from losses.
Oliveira is coming off three losses in fact, completely foreign territory for the veteran. After efficiently submitting Carlos Condit and knocking out Carlo Pedersoli Jr, Oliveira met Gunnar Nelson. There he suffered a gruesome cut courtesy of an Icelandic elbow before Nelson slipped in a rear-naked choke to finish the Brazilian. He then suffered two more losses – a split decision to Mike Perry and a unanimous decision against Nicolas Dalby.
Griffin is also coming off a unanimous decision loss. After a split decision win over Zelim Imadaev he lost to Alex Morono which has taken his UFC record to 3-5. Griffin has struggled to make inroads in the division and must feel another loss could be fatal to his UFC career so he will need to pull off one of his best performances to get past Oliveira.
THE PREDICTION
Griffin is a very tough and technical fighter but if Oliveira shows up he should have too much for the American in every area. He has the grappling to shut him down and the jiu-jitsu to wrap up a submission and this is likely to be won on the feet and finished on the ground.
Griffin will go toe-to-toe with Oliveira on the feet but if the Brazilian can hurt Griffin and can get him to the floor, he can pull off a late finish with ground-and-pound, or even a submission.
Winner: Oliveira via KO/TKO
Striking and grappling stats sourced via FightMetric.
