UFC 296: Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington kicks off the prelims with a fight in the welterweight division between Randy Brown and Muslim Salikhov. Brown was able to get back into the win column in his last fight meanwhile, Salikhov is coming off a unanimous decision loss in his most recent bout. With that said, check out our UFC odds series for our Brown-Salikhov prediction and pick.

Randy Brown (19-4) got back into the win column in his last fight against Wellington Turman whom he defeated via unanimous decision. He has now won five out of his last six fights and will be looking for a statement win against Salikhov in hopes of setting a fight against a ranked opposition in his next fight when he goes to battle this weekend at UFC 296.

Muslim Salikhov (17-5) turned back time when he knocked out Andre Fialho at UFC Fight Night in November 2022 but he unfortunately didn't have the same success in his most recent bout. He dropped a unanimous decision to Nicolas Dalby his last time out and will be looking to avoid losing two fights in a row for the first time in his UFC career when he takes on Randy Brown in the year's final PPV event UFC 296.

Here are the UFC Odds, courtesy of DraftKings. 

UFC 296 Odds: Randy Brown-Muslim Salikhov Odds

Randy Brown: -270

Muslim Salikhov: +220

Over 2.5 rounds: -140

Under 2.5 rounds: +110

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Why Randy Brown Will Win

Randy Brown was able to get back into the win column after suffering a submission defeat to rising contender Jack Della Maddalena. He went in there and dominated Wellington Turman from bell to bell just beating him in all facets of the fight. Brown now gets a chance to get back on yet another winning streak when he takes on Muslim Salikhov.

Salikhov certainly will not be an easy fight for Brown especially if he keeps this fight at kicking range. He is a former Wushu Sanda champion which means he has elite kickboxing abilities and he does his best work with his wide array of kicking arsenal. If Brown is caught staying on the outside just because he is much taller and longer than Salikhov he's still going to have a tough time especially if he can't get his jab going. Where he should be able to dominate is in the grappling as we saw in his fight against Turman and if Brown can get it to the mat he should get the job done and continue his winning ways.

Why Muslim Salikhov Will Win

Muslim Salikhov has now alternated wins and losses in each of his last three fights and he is looking to avoid losing two in a row for the first time in his UFC career. He is coming off of a loss against another UFC veteran Nicolas Dalby who just outworked him throughout the entire fight en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Salikhov gets to take on the tall, long, and surging Randy Brown this weekend at UFC 296. Brown is exceptionally hard to gameplan against due to his extreme length. The good thing for Salikhov is that he utilizes his longest tools, his legs, when it comes to striking. His kicks are basically like punches and they come from all these different angles which makes it hard for anyone to get a read on. Salikhov also has a deadly spinning back-kick that has ended numerous fighters during his time as a professional fighter. If Brown stands and trades it could Salikhov the opening to land something big to get the potential knockout.

Final Randy Brown-Muslim Salikhov Prediction & Pick

This is a great scrap to kick off this historic UFC 296 PPV event. Brown is one fighter that is never in a boring fight and you can expect the same here against Muslim Salikhov. While Salikhov may not be the most explosive fighter, especially at age 39 he still has power behind his strikes which makes him a legitimate threat.

The worry with Brown here is his ability to fight long which will be fine until Salikhov finds his timing and starts ripping calf kicks, body kicks, etc. It's going to start with Brown needing to get his jab down, once he is able to do that he's found his range and he can start touching Salikhov up until he can get in close to take him down and once there Brown has the ability to take his back to sink in the rear-naked choke to get the finish.

Final Randy Brown-Muslim Salikhov Prediction & Pick: Randy Brown (-270), Under 2.5 Rounds (+110)