UFC Fight Night 263: Alice Ardelean vs Montserrat Ruiz Preview & Prediction
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An intriguing strawweight tilt sees Alice Ardelean take on the returning Montserrat Ruiz at 115 pounds.
Alice Ardelean vs Montserrat Ruiz facts
What time are Alice Ardelean and Montserrat Ruiz expected to walk out?
Where is UFC Fight Night 263: Garcia vs Onama? UFC Apex, Enterprise, USA
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night 263: Garcia vs Onama? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC Fight Night 263
What TV channel is UFC Fight Night 263: Garcia vs Onama on? UK – TNT Sports / USA – ESPN+
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night 263: Garcia vs Onama? UK – TNT Sports subscribers can stream the event online via the TNT Sports website and discovery+ / USA – ESPN+ & UFC Fight Pass
UFC Fight Night 263: Garcia vs Onama main card
Steve Garcia vs David Onama (Featherweight)
Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs Ante Delija (Heavyweight)
Jeremiah Wells vs Themba Gorimbo (Welterweight)
Isaac Dulgarian vs Yadier del Valle (Featherweight)
Charles Radtke vs Daniel Frunza (Welterweight)
Allan Nascimento vs Cody Durden (Flyweight)
UFC Fight Night 263: Garcia vs Onama prelims
Billy Elekana vs Kevin Christian (Light Heavyweight)
Timothy Cuamba vs Lee Chang-ho (Bantamweight)
Donte Johnson vs Sedriques Dumas (Middleweight)
Ketlen Vieira vs Norma Dumont (Women’s Bantamweight)
Alice Ardelean vs Montserrat Ruiz (Women’s Strawweight)
Philip Rowe vs Ko Seok-hyun (Welterweight)
Talita Alencar vs Ariane Carnelossi (Women’s Strawweight)
Alice Ardelean: The Romanian returns, riding the momentum of a Fight of the Night winning performance
Romanian fighter Alice Ardelean (10-7) punched her ticket to the UFC just over a year ago, posting a 1-2 record since debuting with a decision defeat to Shauna Bannon. A bona fide finisher who has only ever been to the judges’ scorecards twice in ten professional victories, Ardelean enters this contest off the back of a Fight of the Night winning brawl with Rayanne dos Santos in May. A fighter who leans on a well-rounded MMA skillset for success, Ardelean also brings a slight edge in height and reach to this contest with Ruiz.
Montserrat Ruiz: Can "Conejo" prove the oddsmakers wrong as a major underdog?
Saturday night will mark the first walk to the cage for Montserrat Ruiz (10-4) in just under two years. “Conejo” was once a fairly hyped addition to the strawweight ranks, arriving in the promotion with a shiny 8-1 record and scoring a decision victory in her debut. However, it’s been all downhill for her since those heady days; Ruiz lost three consecutive fights by TKO between 2021 and 2023, prompting a near two year hiatus from the sport. She was last seen in action against Eduarda Moura, succumbing to a second round TKO in November 2023.
Alice Ardelean vs Montserrat Ruiz prediction
On paper, it’s hard to see why the oddsmakers are leaning so heavily towards Ardelean; an unranked straw weight with a 1-2 record since joining the promotion last July.
However, Ruiz’s lay off and the results of her past three fights are what make the difference here. Despite beginning her UFC tenure with a win, “Conejo” is winless since and is coming off three consecutive KO losses. She’s fought solid levels of competition in those defeats, but she’s also coming off a near two year lay-off.
As such, while Ardelean is unlikely to ever break into contention, she seems a near sure-fire pick to walk away with the win here. She’s riding the momentum of a Fight of the Night winning performance where she scored her first UFC win, and she was also conceivably robbed in her debut against Shauna Bannon. As such, there’s an argument to be made that she should be 2-1 in the space of just over a year.
Ruiz either wilts under strikes somewhere around the midway point of the fight, or Ardelean bullies her to a decision across three rounds.
Prediction: Alice Ardelean to win
