It is easy for fans and sport bettors to miss UFC 224 while looking forward toward CM Punk’s redemption struggle at UFC 225, the champion vs. champion match-up at UFC 226 or the rumored Georges St-Pierre vs. Nate Diaz bout at UFC 227.
That’d be a mistake.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is getting an exciting fight card with interesting options for gamblers looking to parlay prelim fights with main-card bouts. The real money on this card will be made by betting on stoppages, decisions or even the over-under on rounds; not on digging to find underdogs to drop money on.
[Editor’s note: You can follow Kel at @KelDansby. Dansby is author for ABC 13 in Las Vegas and co-host of The Corner Podcast along with Andreas Hale. The podcast covers boxing, mixed martial arts and also pro wrestling from your Hip Hop generation’s view.]
UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington, Preview, Betting Picks: Nunes vs. Pennington, Souza vs. Gastelum, Okeinik vs. Albini and much more UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington, Preview, Betting Picks: Nunes vs. Pennington, Souza vs. Gastelum, Okeinik vs. Albini and more Let us begin with the card’s most important event women’s bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes (-1400) and Racquel Pennington (+800). Pennington enters UFC 224 on a four-fight winning streak, with her final loss coming from split decision to former bantamweight champion and current featherweight contender Holly Holm.
That run of success may jump off the page to those expecting to bet on a title underdog to mad a winner that nonetheless has a lot to prove, but if you dig deeper you find that Pennington’s series is a small mirage.
“Rocky” has only ceased two of her last 10 opponents. Both of those competitions, Jessica Andrade (strawweight) and Ashlee Evans-Smith (flyweight), are currently competing in lighter weight classes. Pennington needed a split decision to defeat Bethe Correia, which is not a great vote of confidence for those hoping she’ll conquer Nunes.
Pennington’s latest wins were against Elizabeth Phillips and a deflated Meisha Tate — both also coming by decision. The cherry on top of the”don’t fall for the underdog story” cautionary tale is the fact that Pennington hasn’t competed since November 2016 and has been thrust into this title fight.
The champion Amanda Nunes has been much more impressive in her last 10 fights, which explains why she is such a heavy favorite.
Since the beginning of 2016, Nunes retains two wins over Valentina Shevchenko, a first-round submission of Miesha Tate and Sara McMann, and a totally demolishing knockout of Ronda Rousey.
Actually, the only individuals to take Nunes past the initial round of a fight was Shevchenko and Cat Zingano, who stopped Nunes with strikes in UFC 178.
Nunes has increased much since then and also the smart cash points at her stopping Pennington in two and a half dozen rounds that’s presently in -135. If the rounds frighten you, but want to still put money on Nunes, subsequently Nunes by TKO in +120 is a much safer way to play with it. (Note: all likelihood herein come from William Hill.)
There’s a risk with this wager. Pennington has just been stopped once in her career, coincidentally also at the hands of Cat Zingano. For those with their hearts set on gambling the dog, Pennington dropping by choice (Nunes by UD at +325) is the best option because the figures say that an upset is not occurring on Saturday night.
Speaking of live dogs, the UFC 224 co-main is where imaginative bets can result in cashing a hefty ticket.
Read more: manchesterinnews.com
