Contender Series Week 5: Bruno Lopes vs. Brendson Ribeiro continues with a bout in the bantamweight division between Serhiy Sidey and Ramon Tavares. Sidey has won five fights in a row meanwhile, Tavares is coming off four consecutive wins coming into his debut on the Contender Series. That said, check out our UFC odds series for our Sidey-Tavares prediction and pick.

Serhiy Sidey (9-1) is the top bantamweight prospect out of Canada and is a two-promotion bantamweight champion for both BTC and BFL. He is currently on a five-fight winning streak with four of those five wins coming inside the distance as he takes on Ramon Tavares in the biggest fight of his career this Tuesday night on the Contender Series.

Ramon Tavares (8-1) is the Combat Night bantamweight champion. He is coming into this fight on a four-fight winning streak with seven of his eight wins coming inside the distance. Tavares will be looking to keep his knockout streak going when he takes on Canada's Serhiy Sidey on this week's episode of the Contender Series.

Here are the UFC Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

Contender Series Week 5 Odds: Serhiy Sidey-Ramon Tavares Odds

Serhiy Sidey: -196

Ramon Tavares: +152

How to Watch Serhiy Sidey vs. Ramon Tavares

TV: ESPN+

Stream: ESPN+

Time: 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5:00 p.m. PT

Why Serhiy Sidey Will Win

Serhiy Sidey is the top overall prospect out of Canada at 135 pounds. He is the former BTC and BFL bantamweight champion where he has defended the BFL championship two times before setting off to capture another promotion's bantamweight title. He is a very well-rounded fighter with seven of his nine wins coming by finish with five of those wins coming by knockout. Sidey is a 9-1 professional with his only loss being against fellow Contender Series alumni Mateo Vogel who lost a razor-close decision in his Contender Series bid just this past week.

Sidey is very tall and long for the division standing in at 5'10” and will have a big size advantage against the smaller Ramon Tavares in this week's Contender Series matchup. Sidey does a great job at utilizing that height and reach advantage that he has over most of his opponents to keep them at the end of his strikes. He is also a plus grappler and has that in his back pocket if he wants to use that against Tavares in this fight. It is ultimately up to Sidey how he decides he wants to get this win, but of course, he will need to be wary of the power of Tavares as long as he can take a punch he should be able to outwork Tavares and then put him away.

Why Ramon Tavares Will Win

Ramon Tavares is the former Combat Night Bantamweight Championship as he comes into his first appearance on the Contender Series for a chance at a UFC contract. Tavares is nicknamed ‘The Savage' for a reason, he is a fighter that never backs down and that is always looking to come forward and lay heavy hands on his opponents which is exactly what he is going to do against Serhiy Sidey.

He may not be as technical as Sidey on the feet, but Ramon has that dog in him that you just can't teach a fighter. Tavares certainly will not go down without and fight and he will need to make this fight an ugly dog fight as those are the types of matchups that he thrives in. If Tavares can defend the takedowns and bring the fight to Sidey, he can score the upset and the potential knockout to secure his spot in the UFC.

Final Serhiy Sidey-Ramon Tavares & Pick

These two bantamweight fighters will be going to war for their chance to become the next signed UFC bantamweight contender. Ever since Sidey's loss to Mateo Vogel, he's looked the part of the next UFC bantamweight fighter across his next five fights. He was able to win four of those fights inside the distance with three of those coming by knockout or TKO. Sidey's size is certainly going to cause problems for the smaller Tavares who will need to do his best to navigate the height and the reach to get on the inside to land some big strikes. Ultimately, this should be some uphill sledding for Tavares given that Sidey just seemingly has more tools in the toolbox to get this job done and he just outworks him over the course of this fight to either a late finish or a unanimous decision victory.

Final Serhiy Sidey-Ramon Tavares & Pick: Serhiy Sidey (-196)