Coming off a solid card in Nashville, TN, we have an amazing card, headlined by Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway, going down in New Orleans.
The card is stacked with everything from exciting prospects to Dustin Poirier’s retirement fight in his home state. We have a great night in store for us this Saturday.
Today, I will break down my 3 favorite bets for this weekend’s fight card. Let’s get into it!
The fact that this one is on the prelims is a treat for all of us. Marvin Vettori is a former title challenger who has had a bit of a tough go since he lost his shot at the belt to Israel Adesanya. He has since fought former champ Rob Whittaker, Paulo Costa, Jared Cannonier, and Roman Dolidze twice.
He is 2-3 in those 5 fights against some of the top challengers at 185. Now he takes on Brendan Allen, who, until his last 2 fights, was one of the hottest fighters in the UFC. Before back-to-back losses, Allen had won 7 straight fights. Now, both of these contenders are desperate for a win.
Allen is extremely dangerous when he gets your back. He won 5 of his 7 straight wins by rear naked choke and seemingly ends up on everyone's back, no matter how good their grappling is. This fight also has some real beef between the two fighters.
They have had multiple run-ins with each other, including a brawl in a Florida Casino. Now they will take to the octagon to settle the beef. I think this fight is going to be a brawl, with both guys coming out hot. I think that type of fight favors Vettori, who is known for his iron jaw and constant pressure. I also love his odds i this one as a pretty big underdog.
MY PICK: Marvin Vettori +170
Kopylov has quickly become one of the most exciting strikers in the UFC. 5 of his 8 UFC wins have come by KO/TKO, and most of them have been pretty brutal. He now takes on the former title challenger Paulo Costa, who, much like Vettori, has had a rough go since his loss to Adesanya. He is 1-3 since his title fight in 2020, and his lone win was against a very old Luke Rockhold, who hadn’t fought in about 3 years.
Costa was once one of the scariest contenders in the division, but he seemingly lost his fire to fight. Since his title fight loss, he hasn’t looked the same and, as I mentioned before, has won just 1 fight in the last 5 years.
He now faces an extremely dangerous striker in Roman Kopylov, who I think is going to have his way with an uninspired Costa. I’m not sure this fight will be particularly close with how Costa has looked over the last few years. Taking Kopylov with the points since I think he could take a 10-8 round with a big knockdown.
MY PICK: Roman Kopylov -3.5 +110
Here. We. Go. Dustin Poirier’s retirement fight couldn’t be a better matchup. Both of these fighters are as tough as they come, and it is guaranteed to be a brawl as the Diamond makes his last appearance in the octagon in his home state of Louisiana.
Poirier’s last fight was a submission loss to Islam Makhachev for the belt, so he will look to avoid going 0-2 at the end of his career. Holloway is coming off his first career KO loss at the hands of Ilia Topuria, so we will see if he can bounce back.
Both of these guys are brawlers and very high-level boxers, so I think this one is just going to come down to who is better on this particular night. Poirier has beaten Max twice already throughout the years, in 2019 and all the way back in 2012 in Holloway’s UFC debut.
These guys have obviously evolved since their last meeting in 2019, so I can’t wait to see how this will play out. I don’t have the stats or analytics for this one, but it is hard to bet against Poirier in his last-ever fight in the UFC with the entire state of Louisiana behind him. I think he will get Max for the 3rd time in an instant classic.
MY PICK: Dustin Poirier +114