UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs Oleinik- Prediction: Darren Stewart vs. Maki Pitolo

The third fight on UFC Fight Night, Lewis vs Oleinik main card, has middleweight fighters Darren Stewart and Maki Pitolo locking horns. Both competitors are in their late 20s, and will want to string together a series of wins to earn a shot at securing an official ranking. 

Darren Stewart

Darren Stewart had earned a fight against Marvin Vettori on the back of two wins in 2019. However, he got relegated to the Cage Warriors show as the UFC’s London event was scrapped due to the pandemic. Here, he lost to Bartosz Fabinski. Hence, his upcoming contest does not mark a return to the UFC.

‘The Dentist’ will be looking to return to winning ways and let fans know that 2019 was not a blip. Against Pitolo, he will face an opponent who has just two fights under his belt in the UFC.

Maki Pitolo

‘Coconut Bombz’ has eighteen career fights and has split his outings in the UFC. However, he has the momentum, as he claimed a win in his last fight. He does not let his fights go the distance, with seven of his thirteen wins coming in the form of T/KO. Additionally, he has three submission wins, which takes his tally of finishes to ten. 

Stewart, too, has had seven KOs in his professional career and landed just two takedowns in his last five fights since 2018. This is an indicator that fans can expect to see a striking battle.

UFC Fight Night Prediction

As his nickname ‘Coconut Bombz’ suggests, Pitolo is one who will drop bombs throughout the fight. In two UFC matches he has landed 5.22 strikes per minute with a 45% strike accuracy. In the UFC, he has 89 strikes in just over eighteen minutes of competition. However, ‘Coconut Bombz’ has deviated from attempting submissions since his debut in the promotion against Callan Potter. 

Stewart possesses a 65% takedown defense but is an easy target with fourteen takedowns suffered in his last three fights. Pitolo will look to use the tactic to get ‘The Dentist’ off his vertical base and land in a multitude of strikes to claim yet another TKO win.

Read: UFC Fight Night: Lewis VS. Oleinik- Prediction: Derrick Lewis VS. Aleksei Oleinik

He seems hungry and will have to give it his all to finish a fighter who went the distance against Edmen Shahbazyan, who went on a rampage until last week. Just for that, Darren Stewart holds a slight edge, as he has a good chin. 

Prediction: Darren Stewart to win via unanimous decision.

Sources: Darren Stewart- UFC Stats, Maki Pitolo-UFC Stats, Darren Stewart-Fight History, Maki Pitolo-Fight History