UFC 293 Tips and Predictions
Dateline Sydney, Australia!!!
The combat sports leader is making a grand return to Sydney, Australia with the stacked UFC 293 card after the success of UFC 284 in Perth.
We cashed in 2/3 bets last week so hope you guys were on board. We are back to break down this stellar card and pick some winners again, so let's get into it.
Israel Adesanya vs Sean Strickland
The UFC 276 press conference which involved these two combatants engaging in a fiery exchange of words laid the foundation for our main event.
The middleweight division is back to being ruled by the arguably greatest Middleweight of all time, Israel "The Last Stylebender" Adesanya.
The champion redefined the word fortitude when he made one of the most iconic comebacks in his knockout win against rival Alex Pereira.
He has gotten the better of elite fighters like Robert Whittaker, Alex Pereira, Yoel Romero, and Anderson Silva.
Apart from being one of the best kickboxers in UFC history, the champion has rounded his game by sharpening his already strong 78% Takedown defense.
There are not many fighters that can strike with Israel Adesanya and his 50% striking accuracy will be a big key in this matchup given his strong volume.
When Number 1 Middleweight contender Dricus Du Plessis dropped out due to injury, top-5 contender Sean Strickland stepped up to grab the opportunity of his life.
Strickland is riding a 2-fight win streak while having beaten top Middleweights like Uriah Hall, Jack Hermansson, and Nassourdine Imavov.
Strickland is a volume-heavy striker who imposes his game by pressuring his opponents which is backed by an impressive 84% takedown defense.
Although Sean Strickland is a great striker in his own right, we think his 64% Takedown accuracy is his key in this matchup as he will benefit from mixing up his martial arts.
This is a great fight and a big one for the promotion as it will shape the direction in which the Middleweight division is headed.
Best Bets
Our first pick this week comes on a Featherweight fight between Jack Jenkins and Chepe Mariscal.
Jack Jenkins is the next top contender to look out for at 145 pounds given his well-roundedness and current win-streak.
Although Chepe was impressive in his last bout, we think Jenkins is more technical and will have momentum riding on his side this weekend.
Next up is our co-main event between Tai Tuivasa and Alexander Volkov.
Tai is coming off 2 losses but only to the elite top-2 contenders in the division whereas Volkov is coming off wins against lower ranked contenders.
We think this will be a fun fight and a close one, but we’ll take Bam Bam at plus odds given that this fight will play out on the feet.
Our final pick comes on our main event between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland.
This main event will be fun to watch but is a mismatch in our opinion as Israel is the far superior fighter here.
We predict the champion to style on Strickland and eventually get him out of there inside 25 minutes.
Selection: Jack Jenkins (Winner) @1.5
Selection: Tai Tuivasa (Winner) @2.8
Selection: Israel Adesanya by KO or Submission (Double Chance) @1.83
Selection: Parlay all Selections @7.63
