Cody Haddon -192 vs Billy Brand +160<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\nI\u2019m finding that I\u2019m not impressed with these guys coming out of Urijah Faber\u2019s A1 League, and Billy Brand seems to fit into that category. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Payton Talbott has been incredible coming out of that league, and it feels like they\u2019re searching for the next star, but Talbott is a unicorn and way better than everyone else on that roster. Brand has looked decent in his fights, but pretty weak competition outside of when he fought Payton Talbott, and he got knocked out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Brand likes to showboat in his fights, but it comes across really cocky, and unwarranted as he\u2019s fighting guys with 3 and 2 fights on their record. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
His striking is decent, but not great, his wrestling and takedowns are decent, but not great, and he leaves himself open to get hit. His cardio is fantastic, and he looks to be pretty tough, but I can\u2019t get behind him here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Haddon is a lot of fun to watch as he comes forward with lots of pressure, and lots of volume. He gets hit quite a bit because he doesn\u2019t block any punches because he\u2019s too busy firing away on his opponent, but it\u2019s worked so far for him, and I think it works again here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Haddon went the distance against Steve Erceg in 2021, and even though he lost it was a solid performance against a great fighter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
This is a perfect Contender Series fight as both guys are entertaining, but I think the volume and power of Haddon gets the better of Brand here<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll be tracking these guys coming from A1 Combat as I don\u2019t think they\u2019re very good, and we saw Ernie Juarez last week get knocked out so they\u2019re 0-1 this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Torrez Finney -500 vs Cam Rowston +380<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\nFinney fought on CS last season, and he won easily, but didn\u2019t get the contract as Dana told him he needed some more work and experience before he\u2019s UFC ready, and I agreed completely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Finney is a tank, he has insane power, and when he gets his hands wrapped around his opponents they get picked up and slammed. Seriously, I haven\u2019t seen many guys pick guys up this easy in MMA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Think Daniel Cormier in his prime. His striking defense has been really bad so that needs to be fixed, and his striking offense isn\u2019t great, but he does have power. Finney had a fight a couple months ago, and he murdered a guy with his striking so that shows me he\u2019s been working hard on improving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Roston is nothing special, he\u2019s tall and has a huge reach advantage, but he\u2019s fought awful competition, and he hasn\u2019t fought in almost two years. He\u2019s sloppy, and has no upside. Finney should overwhelm this guy and get the KO or Sub<\/strong> on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\nCortavious Romious -270 vs Michael Imperato +220<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t blink in a Romious fight. His fights are generally really quick as he\u2019s kill or be killed, and his last five fights have ended in the first round. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
He got a last minute chance last season on CS, but he got knocked out in 30 seconds as he tried to go toe-to-toe in the middle of the octagon against a boxer (bad idea). <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
His last three wins have come by armbar, but Imperato is a jiu jitsu specialist, and sometimes his fights get really boring as there are long exchanges on the ground with little action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t think he\u2019s that good as his striking isn\u2019t great, and he accepts position on the bottom, and his style isn\u2019t what Dana White is looking for. One of his wins (against Toliver) was a horrible split decision so he really should have been on a three fight losing streak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t want to bet on either of these guys as Imperato isn\u2019t impressive, but Romious is so boom or bust, that he could be bust and at -270 I\u2019m not willing to lay that price. I would take this fight under 2.5 as Romious will force a fast pace<\/strong>, and my guess is someone gets finished early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\nRizvan Kuniev -500 vs Hugo Cunha +380<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\nKuniev\u2019s last fight was against Renan Ferreira where he got the win in the PFL, but it was overturned as Kuniev tested positive for every steroid and Ferreira even said something didn\u2019t feel right in that fight, and Kuniev\u2019s backne was a sure fire sign he was on all the steroids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s a classic Russian wrestler who likes to force the clinch and takedowns, but it\u2019s basically the style that Dana hates the most, but Dana needs heavyweights as the division is ironically really thin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
He\u2019ll fight Cunha, who has a good record, but he doesn\u2019t look polished at striking or takedowns. He has good cardio for a big fighter as he got a last second round submission win against Eduardo Nunes in LFA, and that could pay dividends against a guy who has clearly been fighting while on steroids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
I won\u2019t bet this fight now, but I\u2019ll be watching live, and I\u2019ll be looking to see if Kuniev isn\u2019t as strong as he used to be or if he starts to tire quickly and I\u2019ll look to play Cunha live. I can\u2019t lay -500 off a guy coming off a positive steroid test, but a live bet could be a great play to fade him if I see he\u2019s not the same guy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Dana White Contender Series Event: Andreas Gustafsson vs Pat Pytlik<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Gustafsson is a brawler, and he\u2019s a tough SOB. His war against Lampinen was crazy as both guys were destroyed on their faces, but Gustafsson got the ground and pound win with his nose completely broken, both guys covered in blood, Lampinen\u2019s eyes almost swollen shut\u2026it was one of the craziest fights I\u2019ve ever seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
I put the link below if you want to see it. Gustafsson wants to stand and bang, and he\u2019s got good power and durability, but I don\u2019t think he should be -250. Pytlik has good striking, and he\u2019ll welcome the physicality and striking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
I think Gustafsson is a bit more polished with his strking, but Pytlik is pretty strong in, and his length could be a problem for Gustafsson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Pytlik is another tough SOB, as he had a serious back injury after his fight in 2019, and he said he couldn\u2019t kick or wrestle so he decided to do a boxing match where it was just punching, and he somehow got it to a draw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
He had to get surgery, and he came back in 2022 and got a great KO win, and then he had another KO in January earlier this year so he looks to be fully healthy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s interesting is both these guys are in their mid 30\u2019s and Dana always says he isn\u2019t looking for 30+ year old contenders so both these guys know they\u2019ll have to put on a great fight to have a chance to get a contract. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
I would say there\u2019s 0.01% chance this fight goes to the distance<\/strong> as someone is going to sleep, and in this fight that looks to be a bar room brawl, I think a sprinkle on Pytlik is worth it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n**************************************************<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\nLooking for more free sports picks and sports betting tips?<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\nMake sure to bookmark all the above!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30892"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30908,"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30892\/revisions\/30908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wagertalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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