FIGHT WEEK FRIDAY PICKS • SEPTEMBER 4, 2026
Another fight weekend is here, and the Fight Week Picks are back.
Last week reminded us exactly why they actually have to fight the fights. Chantelle Cameron spoiled our Mikaela Mayer pick, Filip Hrgovic rallied to stop Moses Itauma, and Song Yadong and Denise Gomes delivered two major UFC Shanghai upsets.
We finished the week 4–4, moving our overall record to:
Fight Week 2026 Prediction Record: 9–6
There was some good news inside the .500 week. All four winners Fight Week correctly selected were also picked with the correct method of victory.
Now we move on.
Former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. returns tonight, Katie Taylor says goodbye to professional boxing Saturday at Croke Park, and one of Europe’s biggest MMA stars finally arrives in the UFC.
Here are this weekend’s Fight Week Picks.
FRIDAY NIGHT BOXING
Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Damian Knyba
Fight Week Pick: Andy Ruiz Jr.
Method: Decision
Confidence: 7/10
The comeback begins tonight.
Ruiz returns after more than two years away from the ring to face 6-foot-7 Polish heavyweight Damian Knyba at Prudential Center in Newark.
There are legitimate questions surrounding Ruiz. Ring inactivity has become a recurring part of his career, and at 36 years old, we need to see how much of the fighter who shocked Anthony Joshua in 2019 is still there.
But there are encouraging signs.
Ruiz weighed 254.3 pounds, his lightest weight in roughly eight years, and has reunited with trainer Manny Robles. Knyba came in at 255.5 pounds and brings enormous height and reach to the matchup.
Knyba’s length should make the opening rounds uncomfortable. Ruiz will need to work his way inside rather than follow the taller man around the ring.
Once he gets there, however, Ruiz’s hand speed and combination punching remain major advantages.
The question isn’t whether Ruiz can win exchanges at close range. It’s whether he can consistently get close enough to create them.
The Pick: Ruiz shakes off some early rust, begins closing the distance more effectively and does enough work inside to earn a decision.
Vito Mielnicki Jr. vs. Austin “Ammo” Williams
Fight Week Pick: Austin Williams
Method: Decision
Confidence: 6/10
This could easily steal the show tonight.
Mielnicki enters at 23-1 with 13 knockouts, while Williams is 20-2 with 13 knockouts. Both stand six feet tall, but Williams owns a significant listed reach advantage — 78 inches compared with 70 for Mielnicki.
That’s a meaningful advantage if Williams uses it.
Mielnicki has continued developing into a legitimate middleweight contender and should be able to pressure Williams throughout the fight. Williams, however, has the tools to make that pressure costly with his southpaw stance, length and power.
This feels like the kind of fight where neither man dominates.
The Pick: Williams uses his reach, movement and counters to win enough close rounds for a narrow decision.
SATURDAY BOXING — CROKE PARK
Katie Taylor vs. Flora Pili
Fight Week Pick: Katie Taylor
Method: Decision
Confidence: 9/10
One final walk.
Katie Taylor enters Croke Park Saturday for what has been announced as the final fight of her legendary professional career.
Taylor brings a 25-1 record into the fight while undefeated French challenger Flora Pili arrives at 12-0. The bout is for the undisputed super lightweight championship, with Taylor attempting to finish her career holding all four major belts.
Pili is younger, undefeated and has nothing to lose.
But this is an enormous jump in competition.
Taylor has spent years fighting elite opposition. Amanda Serrano. Chantelle Cameron. Delfine Persoon. Natasha Jonas. The biggest stages and the most difficult fights have defined her career.
Pili has yet to experience anything resembling what awaits her Saturday — either from Taylor or from approximately 80,000 fans at Croke Park.
Taylor is 40, which prevents this from being an automatic pick. At some point, age catches every fighter.
We don’t think Saturday is that night.
The Pick: Pili gives Taylor some competitive rounds, but Taylor’s speed, experience and combination punching carry her to a clear decision in her final professional fight.
Paddy Donovan vs. Tyrone McKenna
Fight Week Pick: Paddy Donovan
Method: TKO
Confidence: 9/10
Paddy Donovan has much more than hometown pride on the line.
The IBF’s No. 1-ranked welterweight contender enters at 15-2 with 11 knockouts against battle-tested veteran Tyrone McKenna, who brings a 25-6-1 record to Croke Park.
McKenna’s experience makes him dangerous, and he has built a career around making fights difficult.
But Donovan is younger, faster and carries considerably more offensive upside.
Expect McKenna to make Donovan work early. As the fight progresses, Donovan’s speed and body attack should begin creating increasingly one-sided exchanges.
This is the kind of fight Donovan needs to win decisively if he wants to reinforce his position as a legitimate world-title threat.
The Pick: McKenna’s toughness carries him through the first half, but Donovan eventually overwhelms him and forces a stoppage.
Dave Allen vs. Thomas Carty
Fight Week Pick: Dave Allen
Method: TKO
Confidence: 6/10
This is our uncomfortable boxing pick of the week.
Carty will have the Irish crowd behind him and enters with youth, size and southpaw awkwardness. He has also rebuilt momentum after returning from a serious ACL injury.
Allen has something Carty cannot manufacture: years of experience against legitimate heavyweight opposition.
He has seen almost every style, survived difficult situations and developed into the type of veteran who can expose a younger heavyweight when the fight becomes physically demanding.
Carty could absolutely outbox him.
But if Allen keeps advancing and turns this into a tiring inside fight, the matchup begins moving in his direction.
The Pick: Allen survives Carty’s faster start, applies steady pressure and eventually wears him down for a late stoppage.
UFC PARIS
Dan Hooker vs. Salahdine Parnasse
Fight Week Pick: Salahdine Parnasse
Method: TKO
Confidence: 8/10
Welcome to the UFC.
And what an introduction.
Former two-division KSW champion Salahdine Parnasse makes his UFC debut by immediately facing No. 10-ranked lightweight Dan Hooker in a five-round main event.
Parnasse enters at 23-2 with eight knockouts and seven submissions. Even more impressive: he comes into Saturday riding seven consecutive KO/TKO victories and has already competed in 14 professional title fights.
This is no normal UFC debutant.
Hooker is exactly the opponent who can test whether that success translates.
The New Zealander is 24-14 with 11 knockout victories and seven submissions and has spent years fighting some of the best lightweights in the world.
Hooker’s durability and experience make a quick finish unlikely.
But Parnasse is entering the UFC at 28 years old, in his physical prime, with championship experience and a remarkably complete skill set.
The Pick: Hooker makes him earn it, but Parnasse’s speed and versatility eventually create too many problems. Parnasse hurts Hooker and earns a stoppage in the championship rounds.
Farès Ziam vs. Axel Sola
Fight Week Pick: Farès Ziam
Method: Decision
Confidence: 6/10
Two French lightweights meet in Paris with neither receiving much of a home-field advantage.
Ziam enters at 18-5, while Sola is 12-1-1 and coming off an impressive first-round submission victory over Ismael Bonfim.
Sola is dangerous enough to turn this into another Fight Week coin-flip.
But Ziam has considerably more UFC experience and has developed into a disciplined fighter who can control distance, defend himself and win rounds without unnecessarily exposing himself.
Sola’s grappling gives him a legitimate route to victory if he can consistently close the distance.
We think Ziam keeps enough of the fight standing.
The Pick: A competitive all-French battle goes the distance, with Ziam doing slightly more work to earn the decision.
Michael “Venom” Page vs. Nursulton Ruziboev
Fight Week Pick: Michael Page
Method: Decision
Confidence: 6/10
This is another dangerous pick.
Page enters at 25-3 and has gone 4-1 since joining the UFC, earning victories across two weight classes. Ruziboev is 5-1 in the UFC, has won three straight and has finished four of his five UFC victories.
Ruziboev’s best chance is to refuse to play Page’s preferred game.
He needs to pressure him, take away space and force grappling exchanges rather than spending 15 minutes trying to solve one of MMA’s strangest striking puzzles.
Page’s movement, timing and 79-inch reach can make opponents look hesitant very quickly.
At 39, there is always concern about when that speed begins disappearing.
We haven’t seen enough evidence yet to believe it has.
The Pick: Ruziboev has moments when he closes the distance, but Page frustrates him with movement and counters and takes a decision.
Fight Week Pick of the Week
Salahdine Parnasse over Dan Hooker by TKO
There is risk whenever a fighter makes his UFC debut.
There is even more risk when that debut comes against Dan Hooker.
But Parnasse isn’t being brought along like a prospect because he isn’t one.
He has already been a two-division champion, already fought repeatedly with titles at stake and enters the UFC in the middle of his prime.
Hooker will tell us quickly whether Parnasse truly belongs among the world’s elite lightweights.
Fight Week believes he does.
Fight Week Pick: Salahdine Parnasse by TKO — Confidence 8/10
Fight Week Picks — At a Glance
Andy Ruiz Jr. over Damian Knyba — Decision — 7/10
Austin Williams over Vito Mielnicki Jr. — Decision — 6/10
Katie Taylor over Flora Pili — Decision — 9/10
Paddy Donovan over Tyrone McKenna — TKO — 9/10
Dave Allen over Thomas Carty — TKO — 6/10
Salahdine Parnasse over Dan Hooker — TKO — 8/10
Farès Ziam over Axel Sola — Decision — 6/10
Michael “Venom” Page over Nursulton Ruziboev — Decision — 6/10
Eight fights.
Eight picks.
And after last week’s collection of upsets, we’re certainly not pretending any of them are guaranteed.
That’s why we keep the record.
Fight Week 2026 Prediction Record: 9–6
Check back with Fight Week throughout the weekend for results, reaction and post-fight analysis.
