here’s my ufc 211 fight picks:
-stipe miocic: dos santos is miocic’s last loss, but that was a different time. miocic was still developing at that time and this fight might go to decision, but i see miocic winning a close fight.
-joanna jedrzejczyk: jessica andrade has been a different fighter (better), since dropping to 115 lbs, but she hasn’t fought anyone like joanna. i see joanna as champion for at least a couple more years until new contenders sprout up.
-demian maia: you’ll see a theme where i think the sportsbook odds for a lot of these fights is way off, which presents a solid opportunity to make money. maia should be a -300 or -400 favorite, but amazingly, some books have jorge masvidal as the favorite. that’s nuts.
-frankie edgar: i like edgar to win in a blowout here. people thinking yair rodriguez has a good chance to win is a product of careful matchmaking with developing rodriguez. he’s not ready for a fighter of edgar’s caliber
-david branch: this fight has big potential to be very boring. that being said, jotko’s record might look impressive, but he doesn’t have any standout tools to have finished fighter’s that are average. meanwhile, branch has been developing outside the ufc and looks like he maybe, might, possibly become a title contender. worst case, solid gatekeeper. good enough to beat jotko.
-eddie alvarez: some sportsbooks have dustin poirier as a favorite. the odds for some of these fights is just crazy to me. alvarez should win this fight pretty easy.
-chas skelly: skelly and jason knight is a pick em? wow. another good potential money maker. really like skelly in this fight. skelly should beat knight the same way kawajiri did. skelly should be at least a -300 favorite.
-rashad coulter: very close fight. both fighters have almost the same resume. but i’ll pick the fighter that hasn’t lost 2 in a row in coulter.
-marco polo reyes: here’s my upset special of the night. to me, this fight is close to a pick em, but the bookies have james vick as a -400 favorite. vick is pretty good. has a 6-1 record in the ufc, but he’s beaten poor competition. reyes knows how to win as the underdog as evidenced by his big upset win jose luis medrano in mexico. he’s also been more consistent than vick. i wouldn’t be surprised if vick won, but with reyes as such a big underdog, this could be a real money maker.
-jessica aguilar: very interesting fight in that aguilar has a great resume, but has been fighting since 2006, which is crazy. lots of mileage on her body. to me, aguilar wins this fight against cortney casey pretty easy with her wrestling and grappling. and then i was shocked to see that cortney casey is the betting favorite. crazy!! this is the type of fight to put a decent amount of money on aguilar.
-enrique barzola: both barzola and benitez are blah. and close to equally blah which makes it hard to pick but benitez has a history of losing fights he shouldnt.
-gadzhimurad antigulov: i really like antigulov. he could be a future title contender at 205 lbs.
