It’s been a little while since we’ve seen a UFC main event as the last one was UFC 288 on May 6th. Now the mixed martial arts promotion is up in Vancouver, Canada for UFC 289 this Saturday in what figures to be a raucous card. BetAnySports has odds up on all of the events – including the main event of the evening. Let’s start there as we recap the best fights on the board for Saturday’s lineup.
Amanda Nunes vs. Irene Aldana Odds At BetAnySports.eu: Nunes -325
We have ourselves a women’s bantamweight title fight coming up here as the main event of the evening is Amanda Nunes taking on Irene Aldana. It was supposed to be the Nunes-Julianna Pena trilogy but Pena had to pull out after breaking a rib in training. Nunes is aiming to defend her place at the top of the rankings while Aldana hopes to shake everything up at the top.
Nunes is 22-5 in her career but we now know she’s beatable. Pena shocked her at UFC 269 and while Nunes got her revenge at UFC 277 last July, we know she’s not invincible any longer. She had that dominant aura around her as she previously hadn’t lost since 2015. Now there’s a blueprint for how to beat her.
In terms of betting, Nunes has gone to a decision in 67 percent of her fights, so going the distance might be a good prop bet. She gains an advantage on the ground, averaging 2.61 takedowns every 15 minutes. Nunes will likely look to stretch this fight out and slow it down on the ground against a powerful striker in Aldana. 57 percent of her wins have come in the form of a knockout with another 21 percent from submission.
She knows how to end fights early and has around 5.39 significant strikes landed per minute.
Aldana will hope to stay standing against Nunes, who is going to quickly attempt to bring this down to the ground. The question is whether Aldana is really going to challenge here. She’s 14-6 in her career and has losses to Raquel Pennington and Holly Holm. At 35 years old, many are surprised she’s getting a shot. It’s likely Nunes rolls quite easily here.
Pick
Nunes via KO
Charles Oliveira vs. Beneil Dariush Odds At BetAnySports: Dariush -155
Charles Oliveria takes on Beneil Dariush in this lightweight bout at UFC 289. Oliveira is a former champ that’s fresh off his first loss in a long time. He had won 11 in a row before losing to Islam Makhachev and now he has to regroup.
Dariush is another veteran with a 22-4-1 record to his name and he comes in on a roll. He’s won eight in a row and probably gets title shot with a win here. Oliveira doesn’t like to extend fights, with 94 percent of his total matchups ending early, nine percent coming by decision. 18 of his 19 wins have ended that way. That’s an incredible finishing percentage.
Dariush is the complete opposite, with 86 of his fights going the distance. These are two fights that both do a good job of standing up and heading to the ground, yet they have distinctly different outcomes in their past fights. If this is fought standing, Dariush has the slight edge. If it goes to the ground, the edge is to Oliveira. It’s just hard to pass up on the latter as a small dog here.
Pick
Charles Oliveira.
Mike Malott vs. Adam Fugitt Odds At BetAnySports: Malott -205
Mike Malott will put his five-fight winning streak on the line on Saturday when he takes on Adam Fugitt. The latter lost his UFC debut but rebounded with a win at UFC Fight Night 218 in February.
When it comes to their height and weight, they are very close with Fugitt having a very narrow reach advantage as well.
This one is all going to come down to who can take the other down to the ground first. Neither of these fighters has ever had a bout go the distance, so fireworks could be on display here. Eight of Fugitt’s nine wins have been finishes while all nine of Malott’s bouts have done the same. Don’t expect this one to last.
Fight Will Not Go Distance
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