UFC Fight Night 266 Preview, Predictions: Farid Basharat huge favourite over Jean Matsumoto
While Super Bowl 60 is the biggest event of the weekend, the UFC has another event set as well, that being UFC Fight Night 266. This event is scheduled for Saturday, February 7, and is being held at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A total of 13 fights will take place at UFC Fight Night 266, including a main event in the bantamweight division between Mario Bautista and Vinicius Oliveira. Further, this event will be streamed on Paramount+.
My article will break down three of the fights and will provide you with my best bet for each fight.
UFC Jailton Almeida vs. Rizvan Kuniev best bet: Jailton Almeida ML (-160)
Jailton Almeida enters this fight with an MMA record of 22-4, and he’s 9-2 in the UFC. His most recent fight resulted in a loss to Alexander Volkov by split decision back in October 2025.
Despite the recent loss, Almeida has still been a balanced fighter, averaging 2.25 significant strikes per minute with a striking accuracy of 66 per cent and 6.66 takedowns every 15 minutes. Further, he averages 2.0 submission attempts every 15 minutes, boasting a takedown accuracy of 62 per cent and a takedown defence of 60 per cent.
Even though Almeida is coming off a loss, he has a huge advantage in grappling compared to Kuniev. Further, Almeida absorbs far fewer strikes and has more UFC experience. Let’s lock in Almeida as our first best bet.
UFC Jean Matsumoto vs. Farid Basharat best bet: Basharat win by decision (-160)
Farid Basharat enters this fight as a huge favourite, boasting an undefeated MMA record (14-0) and UFC record (6-0). His most recent fight was a win against Chris Gutierrez by unanimous decision back in October 2025.
One of the reasons Basharat has been so dangerous in the UFC is because of his balanced fighting style. Basharat averages 4.05 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 52 per cent. As for grappling, he is averaging 3.60 takedowns every 15 minutes with a takedown accuracy of 47 per cent and a takedown defence of 72 per cent.
Basharat has almost exclusively won by decision in the UFC, with five of his six wins going to the judges. Furthermore, Matsumoto’s only UFC loss came by decision. Look for those trends to continue.
UFC Alex Morono vs. Daniil Donchenko best bet: Fight to reach round 2 (-165)
My final pick for UFC Fight Night 266 will be for the fight between Alex Morono and Daniil Donchenko to reach round two. Morono enters this fight with an MMA record of 24-12 and 13-9 in the UFC. As for Donchenko, he enters this fight with an MMA record of 13-2 and 1-0 in the UFC.
While Morono has been struggling, he has seen nine of his last 10 UFC fights go to at least the second round. That ability to prolong fights is exactly why I like this bout to last more than one round.
