UFC touches down in Chicago on Saturday night to present to us the UFC 238 fight card in the Windy City. We've seen some pretty loaded cards so far this year, but the truth is UFC 238 may be the most stacked lineup that we've seen to this point, with two championship matchups headlining at the top and a lightweight clash fans are clamoring for. The UFC 238 card begins at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ with the preliminary fights getting started at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
Flyweight champion Henry Cejudo will take on top bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes for the vacant 135-pound strap on Saturday night just five months after stopping former bantamweight king TJ Dillashaw in 32 seconds. Cejudo, the brash Olympic gold medalist, has not minced words when it comes to his quest of becoming the fourth dual champion in UFC history. Moraes, meanwhile, looks to fulfill a destiny after joining the organization in 2017 as the World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion. He lost his debut bout in UFC but has destroyed everything in his path since.
Meanwhile in the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko will make her first defense of the women's flyweight title when she battles veteran Jessica Eye. Shevchenko, fighting at a more natural weight for her, dismantled Joanna Jedrzejczyk in December to claim the vacant title. Eye, meanwhile, is coming off a split decision win over Katlyn Chookagian.
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With a big card on tap, our experts took a crack at picking each of the main card fights. Here are your pick makers: Brian Campbell (combat sports writer), Matthew Coca (producer), Jack Crosby (editor), Michael Mormile (producer) and Brandon Wise (editor).
UFC 238 predictions
| Fight | Campbell | Coca | Crosby | Mormile | Wise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marlon Moraes (-135) vs. Henry Cejudo (+115) | Moraes | Moraes | Moraes | Moraes | Moraes |
Valentina Shevchenko (-1500) vs. Jessica Eye (+850) | Shevchenko | Shevchenko | Shevchenko | Shevchenko | Eye |
Tony Ferguson (-150) vs. Donald Cerrone (+130) | Ferguson | Ferguson | Ferguson | Ferguson | Cerrone |
Petr Yan (-360) vs. Jimmie Rivera (+280) | Yan | Yan | Yan | Yan | Yan |
Tai Tuivasa (-125) vs. Blagoy Ivanov (+105) | Ivanov | Tuivasa | Tuivasa | Tuivasa | Tuivasa |
| Overall (2019) | 14-14 | 11-17 | 16-12 | 14-13 | 18-10 |
Campbell on why Moraes will win: Cejudo has a real opportunity to double down on his star potential and find out how great he can be now that UFC is giving him a shot to become just the fourth simultaneous two-division champion in promotional history. The question will be whether his striking is evolved enough to help him in a move up to 135 pounds. Provided Moraes can keep the fight off the ground, he has a style that could be all kinds of wrong for Cejudo considering the Brazilian is fresh off of a trio of first-round stoppages and is among the most underrated fighters in the world. Look for Moraes to make a statement in sending "The Messenger" back to flyweight.
Crosby on why Shevchenko will win: I believe that Eye is a good first opponent for the new flyweight champion Shevchenko in her first defense of the title, and she'll at least put a good game plan together to go in there looking to pull off the monumental upset. But right now, Shevchenko is one of the most dominant fighters in the promotion, and it's so hard to ignore that fact each and every time she fights. While Eye's game plan will be solid, there's going to come a point in this fight where she's gonna be forced to attack, and that's where "Bullet" will take advantage.
Wise on why Eye will win: Call it a hunch, call it dumb, call it whatever you want. This gut feeling has stuck with me for over a week that Eye will put together the perfect gameplan to score a victory over Shevchenko on Saturday night. Finally fighting at her natural weight, Eye looks the part of top contender, just without the finishing power fans like to see. It may not be good for business, but look for Eye to get the job done in an ugly bout on points on Saturday night.
Crosby on why Ferguson will win: I still can't believe that this is slotted as the second fight under the main event, but here we are, and kudos to both UFC and the fighters for getting this put together so quickly. Cowboy's three-fight winning streak has been one of the more enjoyable storylines to watch play out in UFC, and it's difficult not to root for the guy. But the all-time winningest fighter in UFC history may have bitten off more than he can chew here with Ferguson. "El Cucuy," is well-rested -- from a strictly competition standpoint -- and at the end of the day, he's still one of the more well-rounded fighters in the game. I expect and entertaining brawl, and I also expect Ferguson to push that winning streak to 12.
Wise on why Cerrone will win: It's become kind of cliche to talk about, but Cowboy's son, Danger, has inspired his late-career run. Cerrone has turned it on since moving back down to lightweight and turned in clinical performance after clinical performance (by the way, while training on his own ranch away from Jackson Wink). We may have gotten a brief glimpse into what Ferguson looks like when wounded against a striker like Anthony Pettis in October, and I think Cowboy is the man to piece together the puzzle and stop "El Cucuy" in a fight of the night contender.
