UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs Chikadze
UFC Vegas 35 is going on this Sunday and will be headlined by Edson Barboza vs Chikadze Giga. Barboza has won each of his last two fights after defeating Shane Burgos at UFC 262 back in May by knockout. Chikadze is on an eight-fight winning streak here as he last fought in May and defeated Cub Swanson by TKO and won Performance of the Night. The punches are going to be furious as these are two of the better strikers that you will see here. The Fanduel Sportsbook lists Barboza as a slight favorite -115 to Chikadze’s -105 odds to win the fight.
Barboza vs Chikadze Prediction: Edson Barboza to win (-115) and Fight to go the distance NO (-134)
Edson Barboza has a more extensive fighting history and has fought better fighters inside of the octagon. Barboza has been the better fighter himself as he is more of a well-rounded fighter and better. Giga Chikadze has a chance of pulling off the upset but his quality of opponents has to be in question here as well. He needed to go the distance in four of his last six fights so he takes a beating but Barboza is an elite striker so go with him to end with his hand raised.
Now looking at the second bet about the fight going the distance. Barboza has been one of the tougher fighters inside the UFC and I don’t think Giga Chikadze has the skillset to avoid getting knocked out. I don’t expect a first-round KO or anything like that but Barboza’s last fight was a third-round knockout while each of the last two fights for Chikadze had ended with a first-round TKO. These fighters understand that they are not paid per minute so go with the fight to not last all five rounds.
Bryan Battle vs Gilbert Urbina (TUF 29 Middleweight tournament final)
Bryan Battle and Gilbert Urbina will be competing against one another in The Ultimate Fighter Middleweight Tournament Finals in the undercard. Battle has fought once in 2021 as he defeated Ben Fowler back in February with a rear-naked choke in the second round. Gilbert Urbina has not fought since November 2019 as he defeated Angelo Trevino in a unanimous decision. Looking at the Fanduel Sportsbook odds, Battle is considered to be the heavy favorite as he is a -162 favorite compared to Urbina being a +132 underdog.
Bryan Battle to win the tournament (-162)
Watching The Ultimate Fighter is not always appointment television but this fight should be a lot of fun and an entertaining matchup between these two fighters. When Gilbert Urbina has only fought three times in total since July 2015, it seems like he does not have a great chance. Gilbert Urbina is 6-1-0 in his MMA career while Bryan Battle is 5-1-0. Battle has an interesting technique to fight as he attacks to go for the submission throughout his fighting career. He has a five-inch height advantage and also has a good reach advantage in this fight so go with Bryan Battle to win here as well.
