Tag: MMA

UFC 306 Preview for September 14, 2024

Posted on by Ryan Knuppel

It’s going to be a big weekend of MMA action as UFC 306 is going to be taking place in what will be a historic way. UFC 306 is bringing Noche UFC to the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the fight schedule is going to live up to the hype. 

There are a couple of title fights set to take place, and there will also be some other great fights on the main card. Here is a look at three of the biggest fights to set place, and some of the top betting picks that you are going to want to make. 

CLICK HERE TO BET ON UFC 306

Bantamweight Championship

The biggest fight of the night will take place at the end, and it’s not going to be easy to wait around for that action. Sean O’Malley is set to take on Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight championship and this should be a great matchup.

O’Malley is the betting favorite at -130 to win the bantamweight championship, but you could also get some more value by betting on Dvalishvili. Those odds are currently sitting at EVEN money, and he is good enough to come up with a big title. 

The reason that O’Malley is the favorite to win this fight is for the simple fact that he is the current champion. It has been more than a year on the top for O’Malley, but he will have to put up a good fight to keep his belt. 

Dvalishvili was once a fighter that struggled to win fights, but things have changed in a major way. He is a worthy opponent for this fight, but this will be the toughest test of his young career. 

There will be some great action throughout the fight, but it’s going to be the current champion that stays on top. Sean O’Malley will get the job done yet again, and jumping on him at -130 is the way to go. 

Flyweight Title in Main Event

The co-main event is going to be a flyweight championship match, and there will be some great fighters set to battle it out. Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko are both talented fighters, and the betting odds suggest that this will be a battle. 

Grasso is the betting favorite at -145 for this bout, and she has won each of the first two meetings against Shevchenko. This should be another great fight, and it’s one that will go the distance. 

Taking Shevchenko to win this fight at +115 is going to be the right pick to make as she finally gets some revenge. 

Lopes-Ortega in Showdown

The other great fight set to take place this weekend isn’t going to be a title fight, but there are some excellent fighters in the Octagon. Diego Lopes is the favorite in this fight at -175, and he is someone that isn’t afraid to take on big fights. 

Ortega has had a history of beating up on opponents that were not champions, and this is going to be another chance at getting that done. There is a reason that Ortega is the underdog though, and that might mean that he can’t get a win. 

Take Lopes at -175 (at BetUS) to win this fight, but it’s going to be tight. 

UFC Fight Night Betting Preview: Kai Kara-France vs Amir Albazi

Posted on by Ryan Knuppel

Another installment of UFC Fight Night from the APEX is on the docket for this weekend in Las Vegas, and there are a few exciting matchups to watch and bet on. 

Read further for a quick breakdown and betting preview of the main event between Kai Kara-France (24-10) and Amir Albazi (16-1). 

The Main Event of the Evening

This bout, in which this event was built around, is coming out of the most slept-on division in the UFC. The flyweights are a bunch of killers that fight at a very high level. 

After losing his first title shot to Brandon Moreno last year, Kai Kara-France is set to headline his first event this weekend with a huge chance to make sure his name stays at the top of the flyweight division. 

Kara-France’s dance partner, Amir Albazi, is a lesser-known fighter coming from Baghdad, Iraq and has a ton of world-class talent. Let’s breakdown this fight stylistically. 

Between the two, Kara-France is going to be the physically smaller man in the cage on Saturday night, but the kid packs a punch. He has sparked guys like Cody Garbrandt and Rogerio Bontorin. He also put on an incredible performance against the dominant Askar Askarov, seemingly bringing his UFC career to an end.

Albazi is the new kid in town getting his first big opportunity in the UFC. After two finishes in 2022, this is the fight that needed to be made. “The Prince” has some very good striking ability with a few tricky shots he likes to find in the fight–like a nasty uppercut that might be the key to winning this one. But his best skill he has in his back pocket is his wrestling ability. 

Kara-France vs. Albazi Betting Picks

BetOnline has this fight at pick ‘em odds with both fighters at -110 value. This seems like the best way to have this matchup, knowing both of these guys have plenty of paths to victory. 

Albazi has great grappling skills and power in his hands, but you can’t look over Kara-France. Kara-France has proved over the years that he can fight with anyone in the division. Let’s not forget how much success he was having against Brandon Moreno before getting stopped by that brutal liver kick. 

The official prediction for this main event bout is that Kara-France gets his hand raised at the end of the night. Most likely a fight of the night-worthy unanimous decision, but I can also see him getting a finish late in the fight while Albazi starts losing cardio. 

What it comes down: I have way too much confidence in City Kickboxing, the gym that Kara-France trains at. Their team is a proven championship-level group of men and women that train like champions every day. Eugene Bareman is one of the best head coaches in the world and they will have a great gameplan. 

Kara-France will be able to stuff takedowns, and land the bigger shots throughout. Most importantly, he has the cardio to fight all 25 minutes and we don’t know if Albazi does. 

Another Betting Pick

There are a few other interesting fights on this card to look at on BetOnline this week. The co-main event between Alex Caceres (-180) and Daniel Pineda (+155) is going to be crazy. The wacky style of Caceres going up against a killer like Pineda will surely have fans on the edge of their seats.

Caceres throws more of the traditional martial arts techniques and uses a lot of kicks to keep his distance from his opponents and control the pace of the fight. Pineda is someone that can match Caceres skill-for-skill and even has the experience advantage over the UFC veteran.

Pineda has 19 submissions in his career. Caceres struggles with his submission defense against guys that are physically stronger than him. I think that Pineda is probably the best underdog bet to make on this whole card.