News & Community Articles

A bumper betting week ahead for UFC fans

Published

After weeks without any MMA action, the UFC brings us no less than three events in the space of eight days, offering us plenty of action-packed drama and betting opportunities galore

A bumper betting week for UFC fans

After weeks of no MMA action, three major UFC events, like London buses, have turned up at once, and they are all covered in this article by one of our specialist MMA tipsters, James, who provides The Notorious Tipster - UFC service on the Tipstrr platform.

The three high-profile UFC cards all take place in the space of eight action-packed days - Saturday May 9th, Wednesday May 13th and Saturday May 16th - and are all taking place at the same arena in Jacksonville, Florida. Sadly, they must all be behind closed doors with no spectators, but nevertheless they should all bring plenty of fireworks for what is likely to be a huge television audience. 

If you’ve never watched UFC before or have had limited knowledge of the sport, then Saturday’s UFC 249 schedule is the perfect gateway to becoming a UFC fan. With seven bouts in the prelims and a further five on the main card, this event is stacked with guaranteed action-packed drama, not to mention betting opportunities galore.

The main event is hot favourite for the coveted (and lucrative) fight-of-the-night award, and quite rightly so. Lightweight title contenders Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje have earned a combined nine fight-of-the-night bonuses between them, and certainly have what it takes to add to that tally on Saturday in what should be a fierce encounter. Betting: Ferguson 11/20, Gaethje 6/4

Sharing co-main event status in this fighting fiesta is Henry Cejudo, who puts his bantamweight title on the line against Dominick Cruz. Cruz hasn’t fought in almost three and a half years and arguably faces an impossible task, but the greatest bantamweight of all time has done it once before, after bouncing back from a one-and-a-half year absence to regain his title from TJ Dillashaw In January 2016. Can he do the unthinkable again? Betting: Cejudo 12/25, Cruz 7/4

The pick of the earlier main-card clashes features two heavyweight bangers in the shape of Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. They both have formidable - some might say scary - fighting qualities, and with 19 of their combined 24 wins coming via KO/TKO, there stands a good chance of Saturday's clash not going the distance. Betting: Ngannou 7/20, Rozenstruik 9/4

Now, whilst UFC 249 provides an amazing main course to our eight-day UFC feast, the two cards that quickly follow are also well worth a watch - not to mention a bet!!

The second event of the week is UFC Fight Night with Anthony Smith vs Glover Teixeira topping the bill next Wednesday. Both fighters were former challengers for the light-heavyweight title but both were swatted away by the formidable Jon Jones. This should be a good stand-up clash between two high-class fighters and the winner will be set up to re-enter the title fight picture, albeit with a further obstacle or two to overcome along the way. Betting: Smith 3/5 , Teixeira 27/20

The co-main event is very interesting in that career light-heavyweight, Ovince Saint-Preux, is moving up with the big boys to face heavyweight Ben Rothwell, and will likely be giving up as much as two stone to a man who has 28 wins by KO/TKO (out of 37). Will speed kill power? Betting: St Preux 3/5 , Rothwell 11/8

Pick of the prelims features heavyweight legend Andrei Arlovski taking on Philipe Lins in the final fight before the main card begins. The 41-year-old Belarusian holds the record for the most fights and the most wins in UFC heavyweight history, and although he’s certainly in the twilight of his career, he is rarely involved in a dull fight. Betting: Lins 13/20, Arlovski 5/4

The final event of this eight-day slug-fest is UFC Fight Night: Alistair Overeem vs Walt Harris next weekend. Overeem is a very polarising figure in the MMA world, but he is typically involved in fights that end in a spectacular KO one way or the other. This one should be no different, as Harris's thirteen wins have all come via KO/TKO, while Overeem is capable of stopping anyone on his day. Betting Harris 13/20, Overeem 13/10

The fight that looks most interesting is tucked away a little lower down on this card, with Edson Barboza dropping in weight to fight Dan Ige. Barboza is always great fun to watch and has always been a top ten lightweight, but with a tendency to come up short against the top contenders. If the 10-pound drop in weight doesn’t affect him he could be a big danger to everyone in the featherweight division. Betting: Barboza 8/11, Ige 11/10

With sport across the globe making tentative steps to reboot, these three UFC events certainly give a great opportunity for sports fans to gorge on some live televised action, and who knows, some carefully-selected bets might just bring in a little money along the way, too.

After all, UFC, along with all combat sports, demands a winner by definition, so split decisions are few and far between. That presents us with a win-lose betting option that might just leave some extra value to be found in what are basically two-horse races that can be decided in the split second that it takes to land that killer punch.

Want to see older articles? Visit our articles page to keep reading.