UFC 224 Preview, Picks: An Exciting Card With Appetizing Betting Opportunities
It is simple for lovers and sport bettors to overlook UFC 224 while looking forward toward CM Punk’s redemption fight at UFC 225, the champion vs. champion match-up in UFC 226 or the rumored Georges St-Pierre vs. Nate Diaz bout at UFC 227.
That would be a mistake.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is getting an exciting battle card with interesting options for gamblers looking to parlay prelim fights with main-card bouts. The real money on this card is going to be made by betting on stoppages, decisions or the over-under on rounds; not on digging to discover underdogs to lose money on.
[Editor’s note: You can follow Kel in @KelDansby. Dansby is author for ABC 13 in Las Vegas and co-host of The Corner Podcast and Andreas Hale. The podcast covers boxing, mixed martial arts and also pro wrestling by a Hip Hop generation’s view.]
UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington, Preview, Betting Picks: Nunes vs. Pennington, Souza vs. Gastelum, Okeinik vs. Albini and More UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington, Preview, Betting Picks: Nunes vs. Pennington, Souza vs. Gastelum, Okeinik vs. Albini and more Let’s start with the card’s main event women’s bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes (-1400) and Racquel Pennington (+800). Pennington enters UFC 224 on a four-fight winning series, with her final loss coming by split decision to former bantamweight champion and current featherweight contender Holly Holm.
That streak of success may jump off the page to people hoping to bet on a title underdog to mad a winner that nonetheless has a lot to prove, but when you dig deeper you find that Pennington’s series is a bit of a mirage.
«Rocky» has just stopped two of her last 10 opponents. Both of those competitions, Jessica Andrade (strawweight) and Ashlee Evans-Smith (flyweight), are now competing in weight reduction classes. Pennington had a split decision to defeat Bethe Correia, which is not a great vote of confidence for those expecting she will beat Nunes.
Pennington’s most recent wins were against Elizabeth Phillips and a deflated Meisha Tate — equally also coming by choice. The cherry on top of this»do not fall for the underdog story» cautionary tale is the fact that Pennington hasn’t happened since November 2016 and is being thrust to 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 holds two wins over Valentina Shevchenko, a first-round entry of Miesha Tate and Sara McMann, along with a totally demolishing knockout of Ronda Rousey.
In fact, the only individuals to take Nunes beyond the first round of a fight was Shevchenko and Cat Zingano, who ceased Nunes with strikes at UFC 178.
Nunes has increased a lot since then and the wise money points at her stopping Pennington in two and a half dozen rounds which is currently in -135. In the event the rounds frighten you, but wish to still invest in Nunes, subsequently Nunes by TKO at +120 is a much safer way to play with it. (Note: all of odds herein come from William Hill.)
There’s a threat with this bet. Pennington has just been stopped once in her profession, coincidentally also at the hands of Cat Zingano. For individuals with their hearts set on gambling the puppy, Pennington dropping by choice (Nunes by UD at +325) is the very best bet since the numbers say that an upset is not happening on Saturday night.
Speaking of live dogs, the UFC 224 co-main is where creative bets can lead to cashing a substantial ticket.
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