Tracy Cortez answered the call. Taking a flyweight fight with former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is the opportunity any healthy UFC fighter needs to take a chance on. Agreeing to fight on less than four weeks’ notice should provide Cortez, on an 11-fight winning streak, with serious respect from the promotion’s brass if she wins.

The question fight fans will have revealed about Cortez is whether she deserves to be considered a serious title challenger. Despite Cortez’s long winning streak, the best victory on her resume was a 2019 split decision win over current No.3 contender Erin Blanchfield when they were together in Invicta. Cortez also hasn’t shown the ability to put her opponents away.

Cortez only has one knockout in her 11 career victories. While MMAfighting latest news will show that fans have mostly turned on Namajunas, there is no denying her excellent resume. Namajunas is a two-time strawweight champion.

Namajunas stopped the legendary title reign of Joanna Jędrzejczyk. She also beat Zhang Weili in two memorable championship fights in 2021. However, Namajunas has slowly seen her ability to produce spectacular finishes erode over the past few years.

This should be a five-round striking battle. While Cortez has shown plenty of toughness during her time in the UFC, it’s hard to not back the former champion in this bout.

Bets to consider: Namajunas by decision, over 4.5 rounds

Ponzinibbio Hanging Out to Career By a Thread

Santiago Ponzinibbio, 37, will be desperate as he approaches his fight with Muslim Salikhov this weekend. Ponzinibbio can’t count on being on the right side of many results in his MMA career as of late. He has lost four of his past six fights and has been on the wrong side of two split decisions.

Ponzinibbio will have to worry about handling another fighter who is also desperate for a positive result. Muslim Salikhov has lost three of his past four fights. His last loss, a first-round knockout to Randy Brown in February, was rough.

Both men have hit rough patches in their careers. This is a fight to expect a finish.

Bets to consider: Under 2.5 rounds, Ponzinibbio ML

Jean Silva Rushes Back for More

Jean Silva produced one of the more spectacular knockouts at UFC 303 when he put Charles Jourdain out in the second round. However, Silva, who fights with the “Fighting Nerds” team out of Brazil, had his victory tainted when he missed weight by 1.5 pounds before the bout.

But the MMA latest updates show that Silva was eager to answer the call and fight respected veteran Drew Dober at lightweight after Mike Davis was forced to pull out due to injury. Dober isn’t a fighter who is afraid to take chances.

Twenty-six of Dobert’s 41 professional fights have failed to go the distance. Dober has 14 knockouts and six submissions to his credit. Jean Silva has won his first two fights on the UFC main roster by knockout. This fight is priced as a pick ‘em. There is some hesitancy to pick Silva after making a short turnaround, but he has the finishing ability to take Dober into deep waters.

Bets to consider: Under 1.5 rounds, Silva by KO/TKO/DQ

Can Gabriel Bonfim Handle the Elevation?

Fighting in Denver is hard because the city’s elevation challenges the cardio of any fighter who dares to take a fight there. Bonfim took his first career loss last November because he ran out of gas during a fight in Brazil with high-pressure extraordinaire Nicolas Dalby.

Bonfim, who is 15-1 in his career, found out what it is like when you can’t earn a quick stoppage against an opponent. Bonfim never seemed to have a Plan B. Fighting Ange Loosa this weekend should test him again.

Loosa has never been finished and has spent his time in the UFC attempting to grind out decision victories. Bonfim will need to lean on his exceptional skill to earn a finish in this fight.

Bets to consider: Over 1.5 rounds. Parlay Bonfim ML

Julian Erosa Ready for Another Wild Fight

Julian Erosa’s fights typically feature something spectacular. What Erosa hopes is that what occurs isn’t at his expense. Fortunately, for his fight this weekend, he won’t have to worry about the power of his opponent, Christian Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has primarily leaned on his grappling to help go on a four-fight winning streak inside the octagon. If Rodriguez does have some power strikes he would like to try out, Erosa is the opponent to add to the highlight reel. Erosa has been knocked out seven times in his MMA career.

Rodriguez is on a good run in the UFC and could likely finish Erosa if the more veteran fighter isn’t careful. However, with the way the odds are set, it is better to back Erosa at this number.

Bets to consider: Under 2.5 (+124), Erosa +170

Ready for Her Debut

Fatima Kline was supposed to fight on Dana White’s Contender Series this fall. However, the former multi-division Cage Fury champion was called on to step in for Viviane Araujo to fight Canadian Jasmine Jasudavicius. Kline, an American fighter, is an undefeated fighter with only six wins under her belt.

However, Kline has shown power in her hands and an ability to keep the pressure on her opponent. Jasudavicius has won three of her last four fights, including a submission win over Priscila Cachoeira in January. Her only recent loss was to Cortez.

This should be a fun fight to test how ready Kline is for the big stage.

Bets to consider: Kline -130, Over 2.5 rounds

Here are some quick picks on the rest of the fights not mentioned above:

• Middleweight, Abdul Razak Alhassan (-155) vs. Cody Brundage (+130)
• Flyweight, Joshua Van (-205) vs. Charles Johnson (+170)
• Women’s flyweight, Luana Santos (-360) vs. Mariya Agapova (+260)
• Middleweight, Josh Fremd (-108) vs. Andre Petroski (-112)
• Bantamweight, Montel Jackson (-162) vs. Da’Mon Blackshear (+136)

Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.

By Dean McHugh.