


UFC Fight Night is back at the APEX Center in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Coming off one of the better fight cards of the year, UFC 290 had everything you want in a fight card.
There were plenty of finishes, and three underdogs came out of the five main card fights victorious.
UFC Vegas 77 may feature even more of those underdogs barking as we near another PPV card at the end of July.
The card begins at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday and will be broadcast on ESPN from start to finish.
Another Holly Holm fight night to enjoy as she steps in for another five-round fight.
Holm is 41 years old but has shown few signs of slowing down; she wins with extremely well-weaponized cardio and strong clinch strength, making it difficult to escape or do any real damage.
Her opponent, Mayra Bueno Silva, is a rightful underdog; her chances of winning mostly lie in the first two rounds, where she will need to submit Holm to win.
Surely anything is possible in this game, but it feels like Holm by decision at +112 on BetRivers is a gift.
She’s only been submitted once by Miesha Tate years ago, and that seemed more like bad luck than anything.
Holm, by decision, is the official pick thanks to her solid boxing, jab work and control that should carry her in rounds three, four, and five.
A long week for Australia’s Jack Della Maddalena, who took an impossibly long flight from across the world to have two fighters bail on him, including one who had his own life saved by an MRI brain scan.
His new opponent, Bassil Hafez, is a game opponent, a veteran that trains with Trevor Wittman and Justin Gaethje; he is mostly known as a grappler first.
Looking for a path to victory for him is going to be very difficult as Madalena is an elite striker and isn’t a poor grappler by any stretch of the imagination.
We’ll keep this short and sweet: he is -210 to win by KO/TKO, and that’s never a way I prefer to bet.
Hafez has never been knocked out in his professional and amateur career, a total of 20 fights.
Betting Maddalena to win by decision at +900 on Caesars, with the belief that Hafez has more of a chin than people might think.
Coming in as a small underdog is the explosive Terrance McKinney, who has about one or two rounds of cardio before he falls off.
He faces Nazim Sadykhov, who is mostly the opposite.
Sadykhov has excellent cardio and should be able to wilt McKinney if this fight gets over 1.5 rounds (+155/-210).
However, McKinney is a much better athlete here and is probably fighting for a roster spot.
This fight is +500 to go the distance, with Sadykhov +575 to win by decision, giving McKinney nearly zero “wins by decision” equity.
This isn’t very reasonable, though.
McKinney could opt to wrestle his head off in round two, and if he wins round one, he would be in a position to win a decision if he survives round three.
Make no mistake, this will be sweaty, and you may vomit during round three if he taps out.
But McKinney, by decision +1400, is nonsense.
The official bet is McKinney moneyline, +124 on FanDuel, but don’t be afraid to target by decision on Caesars.
Viktoriia Dudakova vs. Istela Nunes goes to decision +100 (Bet365)