GOOD MORNING, FIGHT FANS!

Ladies and gentlemen, we are back with another fantastic fight night from the UFC –  this time from Amelie Arena in Tampa, Florida. It is an event which sees the return of Colby “Chaos” Covington, who takes on Joaquin “New Mansa” Buckley in a titanic welterweight main event. With that in mind, the staff here at Fight Bananas are back with Round 2 of our event predictions. Read on to find our official picks for tonight’s event below!

Just as a quick reminder, allow me to introduce our Fight Bananas staff for tonight’s picks:

Dave Van Auken

Phil Bananas

Elle Dawson

Maddie Levine

Ryan Jarrell

Keelin McNamara (Me – hello, again!)

Adrian Yanez vs Daniel Marcos (BW Division) (4-2 Yanez)

We start off tonight’s main card with an epic bantamweight clash between Houston native Adrian Yanez and Peru’s Daniel Marcos. Both fighters come into this matchup off the back of wins, so be sure to expect an extremely competitive fight. Myself, Ryan, Phil and Dave are all backing Yanez to continue his winning streak, whilst Elle and Maddie are firmly behind Marcos in this matchup.

The majority of the Fight Bananas staff are backing Adrian Yanez to pick up a big win over Daniel Marcos in Tampa. (Image Credit: MMA Junkie – USA Today)

Vitor Petrino vs Dustin Jacoby (LHW Division) (3-3 draw)

And just like that, we have a split draw!

This fight is absolutely dead even – in fact, our staff could not be split on picking a winner! (Image Credit: Jed I. Goodman via X)

Next up on tonight’s card is a big matchup at 205 lbs, with Brazil’s Vitor Petrino taking on Colorado native Dustin Jacoby. Petrino comes into this one off the back of a loss to Anthony Smith, whilst Jacoby is coming in off the back of two losses (to Dominick Reyes and Alonzo Menifield respectively). Dave, Phil and Elle all think Petrino will get the job done in this fight, whilst myself, Maddie and Ryan are all backing Jacoby to break his losing streak tonight.

Manel Kape vs Bruno Silva (FLW Division) (5-1 Kape)

We also have our first blowout prediction for tonight’s card.

Our Fight Bananas staff believe that Angola’s Manel Kape will get back on track with a win over Bruno Silva in Tampa on Saturday night. (Image Credit: MMA Fighting)

Angola’s Manel Kape is one of the brightest, if not more controversial, fighters in the UFC’s flyweight division. Coming into this fight off the back of a loss to Muhammad Mokaev, Kape gets his chance to change his momentum against Brazilian Bruno Silva, who enters this fight on a fantastic four-fight winning streak. With the exception of Elle, all of us think that Manel Kape is going to have his hand raised by the end of this fight.

Cub Swanson vs Billy Quarantillo (FW Division) (5-1 Quarantillo)

And now our second blowout prediction of the card.

Cub Swanson and Billy Quarantillo are set to do battle in the UFC’s featherweight division. (Image Credit: Sportskeeda)

UFC legend Cub “Killer” Swanson comes into this fight off the back of an Uber-competitive split decision loss to Andre “Touchy” Fili. He heads to Tampa to face Quarantillo, who’s mixed run of form includes two wins and two losses in his last four fights. This time, it is Maddie who is our sole outlier, as she is the only one who fancies Swanson to pick up the win in this fight. All of us remaining fancy Quarantillo to change his fortunes at Swanson’s expense.

Colby Covington vs Joaquin Buckley (WW Division) (4-2 Buckley)

Colby Covington makes his first walk to the octagon since his dominant loss to Leon “Rocky” Edwards at UFC 296 last December (almost to the day). Standing across from Covington is Joaquin Buckley, who has become a strong force in this welterweight division recently, and who is also currently riding a five-fight winning streak dating back to 2023. Ryan and Phil are both backing Covington to take the win in the Sunshine State, whilst myself, Dave, Elle and Maddie are predicting that Joaquin Buckley will pick up his biggest win yet.

Colby Covington and Joaquin Buckley are sure to put on a competitive fight in Florida – and our picks reflect that. (Image Credit: MMA Junkie – USA Today)

Do you agree with our predictions? Make sure to get involved and leave your comments and thoughts below!

Keelin McNamara

[Scratches record] Yeah, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up here…or not. My name’s Keelin McNamara, and I am an AVID combat sports fan. Always have been, and probably always will be. I started writing and podcasting about MMA in the Summer of 2020 (yeah, we don’t talk about that here either). I’ve been doing it ever since, and have loved every single minute of it! Thanks for checking out whatever it is you’re reading – I hope you enjoy it!