UFC 316 Features Thrilling Prelims Saturday in Newark

More on those fights later on in the week. Our focus on this day is the undercard.

UFC 316 Featured Prelim: No. 12 Contender Bruno Silva vs. No. 14 Contender Joshua Van

At the top of the bill on the undercard, action takes place in the flyweight division. It’ll be a crucial fight to stay in the top-15 at 125 lbs when No. 12 contender Bruno Silva (14-6-2, 1 NC MMA, 4-3, 1 NC UFC) meets up with No. 14 contender Joshua Van (13-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC). All fights mentioned herein are an advertised maximum of three rounds at five minutes per round.

This is a rebooking of a postponed fight that was originally scheduled to have taken place back on March 8. The fight was called off several weeks before UFC 313 after the former withdrew from the show. Bruno Silva enters the UFC 316 featured prelim with a record of 4-1 in his last five MMA appearances.

He’ll be looking to get back into the win column this upcoming weekend after dropping a third-round knockout (strikes) in St. Petersburg, FL to Manel Kape (21-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) last December in the final UFC card of 2024. Silva had rattled off four successive victories by way of stoppage prior to that loss in the Tampa area in the final days of fall.

If he’s able to secure another highlight-reel finish on Saturday night in Newark, he’ll be climbing up the rankings by the time the new work week starts on Monday morning. However, his adversary is no slouch when the cage door slams shut.

Across the way, Joshua Van will be making the walk in New Jersey this weekend for the UFC 316 featured prelim having gone 4-1 in his own right, getting his hand raised in victory in each of his last three contests. Most recently, he scored a unanimous decision victory over 11-fight veteran Rei Tsuruya (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) after three rounds of action in a short-notice bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Van has worked hard to get to this point in his MMA career, having secured his UFC deal after posting a 6-1 record in Texas-based Fury Fighting Championships, securing that promotion’s flyweight championship by way of second-round submission due to rear-naked choke in December of 2022. The UFC 316 featured prelim will be his highest-profile fight in his career up to this moment.

Can he deliver a resume-building victory under these high stakes? Tune into UFC 316 on Saturday night and find out.

UFC 316 Co-Featured Prelim: No. 12 Contender Azamat Murzakanov vs. Brendson Ribeiro

Immediately beforehand, the evening’s co-featured prelim happens at light heavyweight. No. 12 contender Azamat Murzakanov (14-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) looks to keep his unbeaten run going when he takes on Brendson Ribeiro (17-7, 1 NC MMA, 2-2 UFC). Murzakanov has yet to lose in his professional career as he comes into UFC 316 this weekend, but he’s had a run of canceled fights of late.

Last time out, he bested Alonzo Menifield (16-5-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) with a second-round knockout via punches in August of 2024. Since then, Murzakanov has spent more time away from the cage than in it.

He has had six fights scheduled between September of 2023 and the present day. Four of those scheduled fights were postponed before fight night without a punch having been thrown. Ribeiro wasn’t his original opponent for UFC 316.

At first, Murzakanov was scheduled to square off against Johnny Walker (21-9, 1 NC MMA, 7-6, 1 NC UFC) this weekend before the latter bowed out of the card because of injury last month. With Murzakanov not having fought in about 10 months’ time, expect him to battle with frustration this coming Saturday

Meanwhile, Brendson Ribeiro will be making the walk on a few weeks’ notice sporting a mark of 3-2 in his last five contests. The former Shooto Brazil Light Heavyweight Champion has won two fights in succession ahead of UFC 316.

Back in March, he bested Diyar Nurgozhay (10-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) with a second-round submission by way of kimura from the UFC Apex in the latter’s UFC promotional debut. The 2023 graduate of Contender Series has batted .500 so far in Dana White’s promotion.

Will a third consecutive victory be in the cards this weekend? Only time will tell.

UFC 316: No. 7 Contender Serghei Spivac vs. No. 11 Contender Waldo Cortes-Acosta

Also on the UFC 316 undercard, the heavyweights will make the walk to the famous Octagon when No. 7 contender Serghei Spivac (17-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) meets up with No. 11 contender Waldo Cortes-Acosta (13-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC). Spivac will touch down in New Jersey with a 3-2 record over the course of his last five fights.

Back in January of this year, he dropped a first-round TKO due to ground strikes to Jailton Almeida (22-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) during UFC 311 from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA. Much like Azamat Murzakanov from later in the card, Spivac has dealt with postponements of scheduled bouts.

Initially, he’d been booked to fight Shamil Gaziev (14-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) on May 17 at the Apex, with that fight being rescheduled to happen this Saturday at UFC 316. Subsequent to that, the reschedule for this weekend was postponed due to the latter withdrawing from the event after being injured.

Luckily, Spivac has had more than a month and a half to switch up his gameplan for Waldo Cortes-Acosta over the weekend. How will he fare?

In the other corner, Waldo Cortes-Acosta has gone 4-1 in his last five fights. At the present time, he’s won four bouts in succession. On March 15, he stopped Ryan Spann (22-11 MMA, 8-6 UFC) inside the second round with a left hook and ground and pound.

A fighter is at his most dangerous when he’s on a hot streak. Should Cortes-Acosta win his fifth in a row, he could find himself a few victories away from being in the title picture at 265.

Final Thoughts

Which prelim or prelims are you looking forward to on UFC 316?