UFC Fight Night 265: Jack Hermansson vs Myktybek Orolbai Preview & Prediction
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Jack Hermansson makes his welterweight debut after spending the better part of a decade at middleweight, taking on the returning Myktybek Orolbai.
Jack Hermansson vs Myktybek Orolbai facts
What time are Jack Hermansson and Myktybek Orolbai expected to walk out?
Where is UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs Hooker? Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena, Al Rayyan, Qatar
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs Hooker? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs Hooker
What TV channel is UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs Hooker on? UK – TNT Sports / USA – ESPN+
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs Hooker? UK – TNT Sports subscribers can stream the event online via the TNT Sports website and discovery+ / USA – ESPN+ & UFC Fight Pass
UFC Fight Night 265: Tsarukyan vs Hooker main card
Arman Tsarukyan vs Dan Hooker (Lightweight)
Belal Muhammad vs Ian Machado Garry (Welterweight)
Volkan Oezdemir vs Alonzo Menifield (Light Heavyweight)
Jack Hermansson vs Myktybek Orolbai (Welterweight)
Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs Shamil Gaziev (Heavyweight)
Tagir Ulanbekov vs Kyoji Horiguchi (Flyweight)
UFC Fight Night 265: Tsarukyan vs Hooker prelims
Bogdan Grad vs Luke Riley (Featherweight)
Nicolas Dalby vs Saygid Izagakhmaev (Welterweight)
Alex Perez vs Asu Almabayev (Flyweight)
Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev vs Rafael Cerqueira (Light Heavyweight)
Bekzat Almakhan vs Aleksandre Topuria (Bantamweight)
Ismail Naurdiev vs Ryan Loder (Middleweight)
Nurullo Aliev vs Shaqueme Rock (Lightweight)
Marek Bujlo vs Denzel Freeman (Heavyweight)
Jack Hermansson: "The Joker" makes his welterweight debut less than six months after a harrowing KO defeat
A staple of the UFC's middleweight division for the better part of a decade, Jack Hermansson (24-9) is widely regarded as one of the craftier veterans the promotion has to offer. While he's endured his fair share of setbacks, "The Joker" has scored unlikely wins over the likes of Joe Pyfer, Edmen Shahbazyan, and Jacare Souza over the course of a long and storied career, overcoming his athletic limitations with sheer grit, heart, and cardio. However, after getting viciously knocked out by Gregory Rodrigues at UFC 317 last time out, the Swedish-Norwegian mixed martial artist may have finally reached the end of the road.
Myktybek Orolbai: The Kyrgyz bruiser looks to build on the momentum of a first round submission victory in his last appearance
Returning to welterweight following a series of weight cut related mishaps at 155 pounds, Myktybek Orolbai (14-2-1) makes his first appearance at 170 pounds since his UFC debut, a neck crank submission victory over Uros Medic. With two submission victories and a Fight of the Night bonus to his name, the Kyrgyz finisher has posted a 3-1 record since joining the promotion in 2023. Orolbai has been perfect outside of losing to Mateusz Rebecki in a spectacular brawl back in 2024, and enters this contest off the back of a first round submission victory over the highly touted Tofiq Musayev in June.
Jack Hermansson vs Myktybek Orolbai prediction
It’s hard not to be concerned for Hermansson in this one.
The Gregory Rodrigues KO was the type of finish that sends fighters into retirement. Not only did Hermansson get slept out cold by the Brazilian’s first punch, he then got completely sent to the shadow realm by “Robocop’s” vicious follow up shot on the ground. That was literally less than six months ago. Hermansson has taken a lot of further damage of the course of a long career, to say nothing of the fact that he’s also moving down in weight by 15 pounds at the age of 37 shortly after a career altering KO.
All of this would still be relevant even if “The Joker” was fighting some pillow-fisted welterweight like Michael Chiesa, and he’s decidedly not. Orolbai is a bona-fide finisher who is equally capable of scoring a knockout or a submission. Furthermore, having finally moved up from lightweight, he no longer has his notoriously brutal weight cut to endure on the way to fight night. The Kyrgyz isn't necessarily a one-punch KO threat in the vein of a "Robocop" but he's still more than capable of finding a stoppage seemingly out of nowhere.
This one goes one of two ways: Hermansson either produces a vintage performance of old to earn the decision nod or gets brutally finished by Orolbai in the early goings. Of the two outcomes, the latter would appear to be more likely result.
Prediction: Myktybek Orolbai to win by stoppage
