We are in for an amazing night of Fights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV, this Saturday at UFC 313. Alex Pereira will defend his belt against possibly his toughest test yet in Magomed Ankalaev, and there is a full card of exciting fights.
Today, I will break down my 3 favorite bets for this weekend’s fight card. Let’s get into it!
This should be a very fun fight between a high output point striker in Petrosyan and a brutal KO artist in Ferreira. Ferreira boasts a 3-2 record so far in the UFC, but all 3 of his wins have come by KO.
Petrosyan is a former kickboxer and holds a 3-3 record so far in the UFC. Both of these fighters are coming into this one off of a loss, but Petrosyna desperately needs a win, as he has been finished in his last 2 fights.
I think this fight will be bad for Petrosyan. We have seen him struggle with powerful fighters in the past and is coming into this fight off of a KO loss back in October. I think Petrosyan will try to stay at a distance, but Ferreira will get to him early. I’m not sure he will finish the fight ultimately, but I’ll take Ferriera as a Dog all day.
MY PICK: Brunno Ferreira +120
We have a rematch of one of my favorite fights in recent UFC history. Gaethje put on a masterclass in that fight, and it was brutal from start to finish. Now, we will have a rematch with both guys coming in off of KO losses. I am interested to see how Gaethje looks after nearly a year of layoff since that brutal fight against Max Holloway.
My bet here is that this fight isn’t going to go the distance. Both of these guys throw absolute bombs, and they have been through some wars.
Also, coming in off of KO losses on each side, I think their chins may be in question as they continue to fight. I’m not sure who will win, but I know it is going to be a war.
MY PICK: Fight to NOT go the Distance -135
We are in store for a very exciting main event. Alex Pereira is looking for his 5th title defense at Light Heavyweight as he continues to establish himself as one of the UFC greats. He has been extremely active, with 3 title defenses in 2024 alone, and he won by KO/TKO in all of those fights. He now will face Ankalaev, who is 11-1-1 in his UFC career. Back in 2022, Ankalaev fought for the title against Jan Blachowicz, which ended in a rare draw.
This fight should be very interesting. Ankalaev isn’t a pure wrestler like most of his peers from Dagestan. He has crazy KO power and has KO’d 6 of his opponents in his UFC career. However, we have seen his ability to wrestle at a high level, so it will be a serious test for Pereira.
I think this fight will mostly play out on the feet, but Ankalaev would be silly not to test the Champ's ability to defend the takedown. With all that said, Ankalaev averages less than 1 takedown per 15 minutes, so he has yet to really show how effective he can be in a grappling-heavy fight.
I’m giving Alex the upper hand in this one. He is world-class on his feet, and everyone who has tried to test him, besides Adesanya one time, has fallen. I also think all his time training with Glover Texiera, who was a high-level grappler, will allow him to survive a grappling attack if the fight goes that way. Give me the Champ once again.
MY PICK: Alex Pereira -115