UFC 294 predictions: Will Alexander Volkanovski become a dual champ?

Although fights on the prelims don’t count toward the standings in the MMA Junkie staff picks, we still pick each fight. Here are some key results:

There are two unanimous picks on the prelims. Javid Basharat (14-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is an 11-0 pick from our staff members in his bantamweight fight against Victor Henry (23-6 MMA, 2-1 UFC). Basharat is the second biggest betting favorite on the card at 6-1. And fellow unbeaten fighter Victoria Dudakova (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), more than a 5-1 favorite against Jinh Yu Frey (11-9 MMA, 2-5 UFC) at strawweight, is a unanimous pick – though she missed weight Friday.

While not 11-0 shutouts, there were some other blowouts on the prelims. Arguably the most interesting is Abu Azaitar (14-3-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who is a 10-1 pick over Sedriques Dumas (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) at middleweight – even though Dumas is a -245 betting favorite.

Mohammad Yahya (12-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has a 9-2 picks edge over Trevor Peek (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC). Muhammad Mokaev (9-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) is an 8-3 pick over Tim Elliott (19-12-1 MMA, 8-10 UFC) in the featured prelim, as is India’s Anshul Jubli (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) over Mike Breeden (10-6 MMA, 0-3 UFC) and Shara Magomedov (11-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) over Bruno Silva (23-9 MMA, 4-3 UFC).