UFC 209 takes place on Saturday, March 4th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with the feature fight having Tyron Woodley taking on Stephen Thompson. This is a welterweight rematch between Woodley who is the current champion at sportsbooks and top challenger Thompson. The two fought at UFC 205 and the fight ended in a majority draw. Also on the UFC 209 card it is an interim lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. Let’s look at UFC 209 with a focus on those two fights and UFC picks.
Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson
Thompson is actually listed as a slight favorite at sports betting sites USA for this rematch against Woodley. The rounds total on this fight is listed at 2.5 with the over at -180. Woodley is actually the current champion but he still isn’t getting much respect. He is 16-3-1 in his career and he won the title at UFC 201 by defeating Robbie Lawler. “Going into that fight, ‘Wonderboy’ was treated as if he was the champion,” said Woodley. “I’m the champion, I knocked out the baddest welterweight in the world in record breaking time and I don’t get the respect I deserve. Don’t have him walk around with an American flag like I’m from a different country. Don’t have him paraded around, don’t have everything revolve around him.”
Woodley feels that he won the first fight against Thompson and that Thompson was lucky to survive. “To top of that all these people are saying ‘oh [Woodley] has all this muscle, he can’t make it five rounds,’” said Woodley. “Well I beg your pardon; most of the damage was done in the championship rounds that he barely survived. Most referees would have stopped the contest when I dropped him for a third time in that fourth round.”
UFC Predictions
We’ll go with Woodley to get the win.
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson
Nurmagomedov is listed as a -185 favorite at sports betting sites USA with the rounds listed at 3.5 with the over at -190 at sports betting online sites. Nurmagomedov said he plans to send a big message to Ferguson in this fight. “If you watch when I fight dos Anjos, Michael Johnson, Darrel Horcher, these guys are my opponents but he’s a little bit different than other guys. I want to break his face because I want to teach him respect,” Nurmagomedov said, “When I fought with Michael Johnson, when I took his arm for the kimura, I can break it but I go very slowly, be careful because I don’t want to give him injury. Because I understand (the) fight was finished. I need only to go a little bit slowly and he tapped. If Tony Ferguson gives me this arm, I’m going to break his arm like Frank Mir-(Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira.”
It may not be easy for Nurmagomedov as Ferguson has won nine fights in a row including victories over former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. Nurmagomedov said that he respects Ferguson, to an extent. “Yes he’s an impressive fighter. He all the time fights, UFC gives him ‘Performance of the Night’ but he never fights with fighters like me,” Nurmagomedov said.
UFC Predictions
We’ll go with Nurmagomedov to get the win.
Other announced fights for UFC 209 have Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt, Darren Elkins vs. Mirsad Bektic, Todd Duffee vs. Mark Godbeer, Igor Pokrajac vs. Ed Herman and Lando Vannata vs. David Teymur.
