Ikram Aliskerov and Brunno Ferreira meet on the UFC Fight Night 280 main card Saturday at National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.
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Last event’s results: 4-1
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UFC main cards, 2026: 64-36-1
Ikram Aliskerov vs. Brunno Ferreira UFC Fight Night 280 preview
Aliskerov (17-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) enters his second fight of 2026, looking to extend his winning streak to three. After losing to former champ Robert Whittaker, Aliskerov bounced back with a first-round stoppage of Andre Muniz and a unanimous decision win over JunYong Park.
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Ferreira (15-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) looks to get back on track after a knockout loss against Gregory Rodrigues. That result ended a three-fight winning streak, which included wins over Armen Petrosyan, Jackson McVey and Marvin Vettori.
Ikram Aliskerov vs. Brunno Ferreira UFC Fight Night 280 expert pick, prediction
Serving as yet another middleweight special from the matchmakers is a matchup between Ikram Aliskerov and Brunno Ferreira.
I’m not sure what this matchup does for the Aliskerov side of the equation, but Ferreira, who is coming off a loss, can certainly bolster his stock with an upset win this Saturday.
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The potential problem, however, is that Ferreira doesn’t exactly have the wrestling ability to dictate the terms of this fight (much less a process to reliably create his win conditions). And though an abrupt knockout is never off the table with Ferreira, Aliskerov seems much more interested in getting back to his grappling and controlling fights after his knockout loss to Whittaker.
For that reason, I’ll bank on Aliskerov continuing that smart trend here, given the silly risk-reward position that the UFC matchmakers have put him in.
The pick is for Aliskerov to lock up the win via his patented kimura submission by the end of the second frame.
Ikram Aliskerov vs. Brunno Ferreira UFC Fight Night 280 odds
The oddsmakers and the public favor the Dagestani fighter, listing Aliskerov -300 and Ferreira +235 via FanDuel.
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Ikram Aliskerov vs. Brunno Ferreira UFC Fight Night 280 start time, how to watch
Aliskerov and Ferreira are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 12:40 p.m. ET. The fight streams live on Paramount+.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ikram Aliskerov vs. Brunno Ferreira prediction, pick for UFC Fight Night 280
