TUF China Finale staff picks: Dissent over Mitrione vs. Jordan, Phan vs. Lee

With just one fight separating five staffers in the overall records, the MMAjunkie staff picks for the TUF China Finale could finally give us a clear-cut leader.

Saturday’s early-morning event takes place at The Venetian Macao’s CotaiArena in Macau, and the UFC Fight Pass online stream begins at 6:20 a.m. ET (3:20 a.m. PT).

The staff picks were unanimous with the co-headliners. All eight MMAjunkie staffers expect Dong Hyun Kim (18-2-1 MMA, 9-2 UFC) to beat fellow welterweight John Hathaway (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in the headliner, and everyone predicts Wang Sai (6-4-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) to top Zhang Lipeng (6-7-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in the co-headliner and “TUF: China” welterweight tournament final.

However, there’s some dissent with the heavyweight main-card bout between Matt Mitrione (6-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) and Shawn Jordan (15-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC). Six staffers are predicting an upset for slight underdog Jordan.

Additionally, though the bout is now back on the preliminary card, we’re still offering our picks for bantamweights Nam Phan (18-12 MMA, 2-5 UFC) vs. Vaughn Lee (13-9 MMA, 2-3 UFC). A pair of staffers have predicted an upset for slight underdog Lee.

But the night’s opener is another unanimous pick as everyone chose Hatsu Hioki (26-7-2 MMA, 2-3 UFC) to defeat Ivan Menjivar (25-11 MMA, 4-4 UFC), who moves up a weight class to return to featherweight.

Check out all the picks above. And leave yours below. MMAjunkie reader “IAMMA” is tracking results again this week.

And for more on the TUF China Finale, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.