Cesear Almeida vs Ihor Potieria Prediction: Cesear Almeida to put up a showndown

By Sunday morning, UFC Fight Night will host the middleweight division bout between Cesear Almeida and Ihor Potieria. It is set as the preliminary card (fight 4 of 12) event under the 185 lbs (83.9 kg) weight class. Cesear Almeida is coming into this bout with a loss in his last fight, while Ihor Potieria has won two wins in his last five fights. All action will take place at Accor Arena, Paris, France, and can be watched live on ESPN+.

Cesear Almeida is a 74th-current Best MMA Welterweight Fighter and boasts of five career wins and one loss. The 36-year-old fighter is fighting out of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and has an association with Lótus MMA/XXtreme Couture MMA. Throughout his career, Kelvin has never lost through a knockout or submission. His last fight was on June 1, 2024, in UFC 302 against Roman Kopylov on the preliminary card, winning by way of split decision. Prior to this, he was on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night and won against Dylan Budka via an elbow-to-ground strike knockout. This bout won the UFC Fight Night Performance of the Night. In 2024, he joined UFC promotion and has fought two times, winning once and losing once. During his time in kickboxing, he faced Alex Pereira multiple times, lost twice, and won once. 

Ihor Potieria boasts of a professional career record of twenty-one wins and six losses. He is nicknamed “Duelist” and fights out of Kiev, Ukraine. He last fought on May 4, 2024, in the UFC and lost to Michel Pereira via a Standing Guillotine Choke submission. He joined the UFC in 2022 and has fought six times, winning two and four losses. The rest of his losses were to Rodolfo Bellato (via Ground & Pound), Carlos Ulberg (via Left Hook to Ground Strikes), and Nicolae Negumereanu (Knees & Punches (Standing TKO)). In 2021 at WWFC 11, he defended his WWFC Middleweight Championship title in a main card fight against Georgi Lobzhanidze, which ended in a win by points. 

Although Almeida is the older in this bout, he has proven to still be in his form in recent times than Ihor Potieria. Even the bookies can't deny that. The way this bout will end would be by way of knockout, and Almeida will be able to carry out this judge with ease due to his striking ability and track record. I don't see his chance in this bout, nor do I see him getting a knockout or submission. In terms of rounds, under 2.5 rounds is a safe bet option.