UFC Fight Night 101 staff picks: Who gets nod in Derek Brunson-Robert Whittaker main event?

The UFC is back in “The Land Down Under” as part of its busy stretch to close out the 2016 calendar year.

UFC Fight Night 101 takes place Saturday (Sunday in Australia) at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The event airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

In the main event, Derek Brunson (16-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) will attempt to continue his stellar middleweight run when he meets New Zealand’s Robert Whittaker (16-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC), an Australia resident. Brunson has five straight wins with four consecutive first-round knockouts. Whittaker has won five in a row, as well, as has two bonuses in that stretch.

Brunson is a -150 favorite with the oddsmakers, and our MMAjunkie editors, writers and radio hosts are backing him at a rate of 7-3.

The co-main event is a lightweight fight and one of two unanimious picks on the card. Australia’s Jake Matthews (10-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) is a 10-0 pick over Andrew Holbrook (11-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in the co-feature. He’s more than a 3-1 favorite in the fight – the heaviest piece of chalk on the card. The other unanimous nod is Australian featherweight UFC newcomer Alex Volkanovski (13-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) over Yusuke Kasuya (9-2-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC).

Also on the main card, Omari Akhmedov (15-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) is a 6-4 choice over Australia’s Kyle Noke (22-9-1 MMA, 6-5 UFC) in their welterweight fight. Khalil Rountree (4-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) is an 8-2 pick over the debuting Tyson Pedro (4-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in their light heavyweight bout. And Seo Hee Ham (16-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC) is a 7-3 choice over Danielle Taylor (7-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in their women’s strawweight fight, which opens the main card.

In the MMAjunkie reader consensus picks, Brunson, Matthews, Noke, Volkanovski, Rountree and Ham are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.

For more on UFC Fight Night 101, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.