Alexander Romanov vs Blagoy Ivanov Prediction: King Kong to Finish Off the Opponent

In the first preliminary round of UFC Vegas 76, Aleksandr Romanov of Moldova and Blagoy Ivanov of Bulgaria will share the cage. The bout will take place in the heavyweight category. The fighters are at the bottom of the division's top 15 rankings (ranked 14th and 15th).

Alexander Romanov, 32-year-old heavyweight and former champion of the Moldovan Eagles FC promotion, made his UFC debut in 2020 and won five straight bouts, bursting into the top 15.

But things have stalled as the opposition has risen. Last August, he lost to Marcin Tybura. The fight was close; Alexander took the first round accurately. In the second, Tybura could defend, but Romanov was extremely tired and looked weak in the third.

The last fight the Moldovan had against Alexander Volkov, and in his own words, he was "not mentally ready." The bout lasted two minutes and was not logical. Romanov tried to take Volkov to the floor, but it didn't work. The Russian defended well and began to beat his opponent in the standing. And then the unbelievable thing happened - Volkov moved Romanov down, took his back, and punched him until the referee got fed up.

The Bulgarian fighter has three wins in the UFC and suffered four losses, but he is still in the top 15 because of the heavyweight crisis. Interestingly, all bouts in the strongest league were finished by judges' decisions, which is unusual for the heavyweight division. Also, Ivanov failed three times in his last four fights; in his previous bout, he lost to Tybura.

Blagoj Ivanov has not lost prematurely in the UFC yet, but he has one submission defeat ever. Romanov's motivation and readiness will decide everything. He is extremely serious and says there will be no more mistakes made before the fight with Volkov. The training camp was regular; all the planned work was done, and the opponent was studied thoroughly.

We assume that most of the confrontation will be in wrestling, where Romanov is excellent; his wrestling skills and physical strength will play a decisive role. We are worried about his stamina, but Alexander understands this and worked hard on this component in the camp. Blagoj Ivanov, frankly speaking, is also far from being a cardio machine.