After a bit of a break with last week not having a UFC event, we are back with a Fight Night card this weekend. We have a bunch of huge fights on the horizon in coming events but we will be focusing on the card at hand here. Sodiq Yusuff is the largest favorite on the night as he comes in at -850 or more in many books.
A battle of seasoned heavyweights will top the prelim card when Ilir Latifi and Aleksei Oleinik square off. Ilir, at 39, is the younger of the fighters which is a role he has not been in much as of late. In the main event, we have the rare women’s strawweight matchup between the #5 and #6 ranked contenders in Dern and Yan. We do see some value on the card and we are going to put them out here for all.
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Parlay of the Night: Tabatha Ricci & Mackenzie Dern
Best Available Odds: +115 at DraftKings
We are going with our 1st ever all-women parlay of the night here. Tabatha “baby shark” Ricci is 4-1 in her last 5 fights.
She is facing Jessica Penne, who is just 2-3 in her last 5 fights including a loss in her most recent one to Emily Ducote. Ricci is better on the mat and we believe that is where this one is going to get to and our girl Ricci will come out on top.
In the main event, we are backing the favorite Dern. She is 4-1 in her last 5 fights while her opponent Yan is 3-2 in her last 5 with back-to-back losses entering this contest.
Yan will look to keep things standing and make this a slugfest. Dern can hold her own on the feet but is even more dangerous on the ground. She has 7 wins via submission with her latest win by sub coming last April over Nina Nunes.
Underdog of the Night: Aleksei Oleinik
Best Available Odds: +150 at FanDuel
Oleinik has more wins via submissions (47) than many fighters have total fights in their entire careers. He is just 2-3 in his last 5 fights but his latest fight was a win, by, you guessed it, submission.
We get Oleinik as a dog here against Ilir, who will likely try to get the KO victory over Aleksei. However, if it gets to the ground at all, Ilir will have serious issues with Oleinik. We will take our chances on the old wily veteran here.
Bonus Play: Yusuff & Shainis UNDER 1.5 Rounds
Best Available Odds: +135 at DraftKings
Yusuff has shown time and again that he is on the correct trajectory. Even after falling to Arnold Allen, he came back to win via decision over Alex Caceres. Here he is facing Don Shainis, who is making his UFC debut.
Shainis is 5-0 in his last 5 fights and his last 3 were all TKO wins in the 1st round. We expect him to come out and try to push the pace from the jump and either pull off a crazy upset or give Yusuff an opening to end things early. Either way, the quick finish is going to give us a plus-money win.
