We are a few hours away from one of the biggest title fights of the year! It is nice when you get a real rivalry behind a title fight, Israel and Costa have been shitting on each other since either got a name for themselves. Hate makes for great fights, Israel and Romero didn’t hate each other and look where that got us. This is a pretty lackluster card outside of the 2 title fights, but the top 2 are so good it doesn’t really matter. This will be a pretty brief blog because I am very hungover and I have been sucking real bad with the prelims. Hoping to make some good cash off of DraftKings and Main Card.
Let’s get into these picks:
Main Card
Israel Adesanya vs Paulo Costa Middleweight Championship Bout
Holy fuck am I excited for this bout. I think there are plenty of people with a little knot in their stomach worried these guys will be gun shy like Israel’s last bout but that is bullshit. Paulo is not a counter striker, he is going to come in trying to knock Israel the fuck out immediately. He is strong and not well rounded and just wants to hit something. Some people might not know this, but Israel is so much fucking better than Costa. He was a kickboxing champion with a 75-5 record. How in the world can you think Costa is going to come in and beat him at his own game? You are an ill informed person. Costa has one reputable win and a lot of people thought he lost that one. The deep waters will make Costa crumble and Israel will finish this.
Israel Adesanya by 4th Round TKO -184 2 units
Dominick Reyes vs Jan Błachowicz Light Heavyweight Championship Bout
Extreme bias alert because I despise Dominick Reyes. Now that we are past that, I think Reyes is a slightly better fighter, probably should have gotten that decision over Jones, and is “athletic”. The thing about Jan is that he is doing this for Poland. He is going to walk in, fight smart, find Reyes’ pretty little chin and send it back to D3 college football. Jan proved he is no joke when he made Anderson move to Bellator. People were weary since he was fighting middleweights, but he is here to be our new champion and I happily accept him.
Jan Blachowicz by 2nd Round TKO +215 1 unit
Kai Kara-France vs Brandon Royval Flyweight Bout
This is a pure value pick to me. Kai Kara-France is a very good fighter and doesn’t make too many mistakes. He has strong grappling and solid striking. The issue is that he isn’t necessarily spectacular anywhere. Royval has some elite BJJ and is just a nightmare on the ground from the top or bottom. His tank is great and his length is frustrating at this weight. If this line was closer you might see me lean towards Kai, but at +170 I see way too much value to not take Royval.
Brandon Royval by 2nd Round Submission +170 1 unit
Ketlen Vieira vs Sijara Eubanks Bantamweight Bout
I do not really care about this one. I am a pretty big Sijara hater because of how much she used to miss weight. She has fixed up a lot of her issues inside and out of the octagon and has actually looked good in her last couple. Unfortunately for her, Ketlen is just a better fighter than her. Sijara has a little more power in her hands that could maybe end it early, but it won’t. Vieira is going to grind out a boring decision and take the win. Might be a fight that I say fuck it and put wayyyyy to many units on it. Do not fall for the Eubanks trap because she looks scary, she ain’t that good.
Ketlen Vieira by Decision -205 2 units
Hakeem Dawodu vs Zubaira Tukhugov Catchweight (150) Bout
I went back and forth on this one a bunch. Hakeem is an awesome fighter and has been on a nice stretch with 4 straight wins since losing his debut. The issue is that it hasn’t been the best competition. Zubaira has been up against some good guys being on the wrong side of a split decision loss and draw. Hakeem only being able to split decision win against Bochniak is kind of telling, with the line being this close, I am going to pick the Khabib like guy with better competition faced.
Zubaira Tukhugov by Decision -140 1 unit
Prelims
Brad Riddell vs Alex da Silva Lightweight Bout
Brad Riddell by Decision -305 2 units
Diego Sanchez vs Jake Matthews Welterweight Bout
Diego Sanchez by 2nd Round TKO +492 1 unit (Why the fuck not)
Shane Young vs Ľudovít Klein Catchweight (150 lb) Bout
L’udovit Klein by 1st Round TKO -130 1 unit
William Knight vs Aleksa Camur Light Heavyweight Bout
Aleksa Camur by 1st Round TKO -170 2 units
Early Prelims
Juan Espino vs Jeff Hughes Heavyweight Bout
Juan Espino by 2nd Round Submission -305 2 units
Khadis Ibragimov vs Danilo Marques Light Heavyweight Bout
Danilo Marques by 1st Round Submission +150 1 unit
DraftKings Lineup:
As always, may luck be your lady tonight!