Roman Dolidze meets Anthony Hernandez in a primary occasion matchup of streaking middleweights at UFC Battle Evening on Saturday at UFC Apex in Las Vegas (7 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+; prelims at 4 p.m.).
Dolidze (15-3), No. 10 in ESPN’s 185-pound rankings, has received three fights in a row, most lately a unanimous resolution over Marvin Vettori in March.
Hernandez (14-2, 1 NC), who’s unranked by ESPN however lately was within the high 10, is on a seven-fight successful streak. His education victory was a unanimous resolution over Brendan Allen in February. Previous to that, he had 4 straight finishes. Dolidze and Hernandez had been booked to satisfy final 12 months, however the struggle was canceled after Hernandez injured his hand. ESPN MMA analyst Din Thomas gives his primary occasion prediction, and ESPN betting professional Ian Parker provides perception on the worth bets obtainable on the struggle card.
Middleweight: Roman Dolidze vs. Anthony Hernandez
Prediction: Dolidze by submission.
“I am sticking to my underdog choose, though I can not belief Dolidze generally. He is not at all times essentially the most cerebral fighter, however I believe he is received the very best guard in MMA. If he will get taken down, it is not an enormous deal. He would not even have to struggle the takedown, as a result of when he is on the canvas, it solely presents new issues for Hernandez. Dolidze’s guard goes to provide Hernandez some issues.” — Din Thomas
Betting evaluation
Odds correct as of Aug. 7. For essentially the most up-to-date odds, go to ESPN BET.
Parker: Hernandez to win (-350); over 2.5 rounds (+160). Using a formidable win streak, Hernandez enters this match in opposition to Dolidze because the heavy favourite. If you happen to like the value for Hernandez, make him the anchor in your parlay. In any other case, take Hernandez to win and the over at 2.5 rounds. The value on this consequence will get the quantity down drastically. Nearly as good as Dolidze has been throughout his personal win streak, I do not understand how he can win this struggle. Except he is ready to knock out Hernandez early, I count on Hernandez to set a chaotic tempo that can decelerate Dolidze because the struggle progresses. If a end occurs, I might search for it in Spherical 4 or 5.
Parker’s greatest bets on the remainder of the cardboard
Males’s bantamweight: Steve Erceg vs Ode’ Osbourne
Erceg to win by submission or resolution. “Astroboy” Erceg is available in as an enormous favourite over Osbourne. Erceg is on a three-fight shedding streak, however he fell to a few of the highest 5 flyweights in ESPN’s divisional rankings in No. 1 Alexandre Pantoja, No. 5 Kai Kara-France and No. 4 Brandon Moreno. Erceg, who’s combating Osbourne up at 135 kilos, ought to be capable to get again within the win column on Saturday. Erceg is the higher striker on this matchup, however he does need to be careful for the facility of Osbourne, who’s coming off a knockout win over Luis Gurule in April. Erceg’s largest benefit shall be on the bottom, the place Osbourne has struggled tremendously.
Featherweight: Christian Rodriguez vs Andre Fili
Rodriguez to win (-235); over 1.5 rounds. Six of Rodriguez’s eight UFC bouts have resulted in resolution, and on Saturday he takes on a seasoned vet who’s sturdy and may sustain a quick tempo. Nevertheless, I believe Fili is on the draw back of his profession, whereas Rodriguez remains to be rising. Search for Rodriguez to push the tempo and lean on his grapple-heavy strategy, taking away any probability Fili has to land a knockout punch. Taking Rodriguez to win and the over at 1.5 rounds will carry the road down considerably.
Welterweight: Gilbert Urbina vs Uros Medic
Urbina to win (+325). Medic is a big favourite — though he’s coming off a first-round knockout loss to Punahele Soriano in January. Urbina has proven at occasions he will be an absolute monster, and Medic has not executed properly with stress utilized. Urbina additionally can have the benefit in wrestling, if he can handle his fuel tank correctly. So do I believe Medic needs to be the favourite? Positive. However this large? No means. I’m going to take a flier on the large underdog, who I believe really has a path to victory.