Brandon . 5/11/24 Brandon . 5/11/24

Proof of Odds for enhanced parlay on Hard Rock Sports Book

I just wanted to put a link to show that I did get an enhanced parlay from Hard Rock Sports book. I want to put this here for BetMMA.Tips if they are curious to see if it is real or not and it is!

Brandon . 4/22/24 Brandon . 4/22/24

UFC Predictions Matheus Nicolau vs Alex Perez

UFC Predictions

So here is my main event prediction for the main event this week for UFC Fight Night Vegas 91, Nicolau vs Perez. I think that Nicolau will be the one to come out victorious. Why? Let’s get into it.

5 Rounds: I like that Nicolau is coming in to this fight with a full camp for 5 rounds. Alex Perez is coming in as a short notice replacement after losing to Muhammad Mokaev not that long ago in a 3 rounder, in a fight that he lost, but did alright in. Nicolau should be able to stay in for the 5 rounds where it may be more of a question for Perez. Perez probably should be fine, but I wont have that question for Nicolau.

Weight: We have seen this bad problem with Alex Perez in the past about him having so much trouble making weight. Now, on short notice to try and make weight? I have to worry that he may have a lot of trouble with it like he has shown so many times in the past.

Patience: Something I like, and at the same time also dislike, about Nicolau, that’s his patience. I like it because he makes his reads and does the right shots at the right times. I dislike it because it’s flat out BORING to watch. Perez is not someone I would say is as patient, although he seemed to be super passive against Mokaev. That’s probably because of Mokaev’s takedown threat that likely wont be as much of the case with Nicolau since Nicolau has better striking which has a good chance to open takedowns for Nicolau a lot easier than it did for Mokaev.

Takedown defense: 93% takedown defense for Nicolau is actually insane. I don’t see this fight going on the ground because Perez took it to the ground. Likely Nicolau wont try and take Perez down who has good takedown defense of his own.

Submissions: Alex Perez has been shown to be susceptible to subs in his UFC run. While, it is against the best of the division that he is getting subbed against like Figgy and Pantoja, it has shown to be there. That’s something Nicolau can take advantage of if Perez gives it to him which might be possible if Perez tries to mix up the wrestling early on into the fight.

So ultimately, I do think Nicolau has the advantages to win. I can see a world where Perez does wins this main event but things for sure are on the favor of Nicolau stylistically here in this fight.

Brandon . 4/21/24 Brandon . 4/21/24

NON UFC Predictions Trip to Las Vegas

Non UFC Predictions

So this is a little different than most of the other content on Champ Bets. So I had the privilege of going to Las Vegas for the weekend of UFC 300! So here are some of the details of my experience!

Flights and Airports

This was by far the worst part. Every flight I boarded on this trip both ways all got delayed to the point where I thought I would miss the next flight I had to take right after! I’m used to airports being sucky, but not to this extent. I luckily was able to make each flight in time, but I was running through airports trying to get to my destination asap before the flights took off without me. Not fun, I just want people to invent teleportation as soon as possible so we can abolish airports.

Vegas

So I land and I make it to my personal favorite city, Las Vegas! I went into a taxi and went to my hotel: the Virgin Hotel. This is a nice hotel! It’s nice because the rooms and hotel itself is very comfortable, it’s not on the strip so a lot less traffic in this area, and it has this one ice cream place that is amazing! I highly recommend!

So I was at this hotel and I found out that the PFL had an event at the Virgin Hotel the day before UFC 300, so I was like, “well, I like watching fights in person, why not go to this show as well”. So I ended up buying front row tickets to this PFL show for a much much cheaper price than I spend for UFC 300, and I was excited to go! But first in that day, I had to go to weigh ins for UFC 300.

UFC 300 Weigh Ins

So, before weigh ins started, I actually found out that there was a fighter meet up that same day! For one of my favorite fighters, Valentina Shevchenko. So, after finding out about this, I was like, “yeah, I gotta go”. So I got there an hour early because I know the lines for these meet ups are ridiclous usually and I was surpriesd to find that it wasn’t that bad of a line at all! So, miscalculation on my part, but that was all good. I ended up waiting for the hour and I ended up taking a picture with her and got some goodies like a signed flyer, a howler head shirt which was the sponsor of the meet up, and a picture with Valentina herself! Here is the picture:

So after that finished, I dropped off the stuff at the hotel and went back for the actual weigh ins! I got a pretty good seat considering for the weigh ins and I watched it all go down! Everyone luckily made weight so there was a lot to cheer about!

At weigh ins though, outta no where, came UFC fighter Joaquin Buckley just running down the stairs to record the weigh ins for his youtube channel.

The guy decided to give out some of these posters which was hilarious!

I love me some Joaquin Buckley, very nice guy too!

So that was it for weigh ins, so I had to run back to my hotel to catch the PFL show.

PFL

So I arrived and I was met with a really weird set. For some reason, they thought it was a good idea to have a guy just stand there blocking the view of the cage and have a pillar next to him that also blocked some of the view. I didn’t like that at all.

But otherwise, PFL actually had really good fights this night which sometimes just isn’t the case for them. A lot of finishes happened. I also got the chance to see a bunch of random fighters show up to this show. Chuck Liddlel, Clay Guida, Dan Henderson, Gilbert Burns, Herbert Burns, Bogdan Guskov, Patchy Mix, Sean Strickland, the Schmo, Erik Nicksick, Mike Malott, Tyron Woodley, and more that I’m forgetting about. Here are pictures I took with Herbert Burns and Bogdan Guskov at the show:

PFL was the place for a lot of hardcore fans which I really enjoyed getting the chance to talk to! It turned out the person sitting next to me was the boyfriend of the translator of Zhang Weili who is the current Strawweight Champion of the UFC which I thought was crazy, especially since he was telling me all the connections he had to the Chinese fighters because of being her boyfriend. Small world! Also, something funny that happened was this guy asked me who to bet on in Wilkinson vs Breese and I told him “go Wiilkinson, he is on roids”. Wilkinson did end up winning which made this guy $200, but the broadcast had this moment where the main commentator said “can I ask him about his steroids”. Hilarious.

https://x.com/MadLabMMA/status/1778977270990004354 <- Link to clip of this.

So I had a blast while I was there! But the climax comes next, UFC 300.

UFC 300

So, the day finally arrived. I had been saving up for this show since last summer because I wanted to be at a landmark event and say I had the chance to go live. I got there early and to my surprise, I found out there was another meet and greet! The Tom Aspinall, the current interim heavyweight champion of the world. I was like, what the hell no way! This dude came from England to be here? I have to get a picture with one of the best fighters in the world right now. And I did! Very nice guy!

And after that I waited in line and got in the arena. Wow, this was by far the best event I have ever been to. I’m so happy to have been lucky enough to get tickets and go to such a spectacular event that produced memories that I will keep with me till I die. I love this sport so much and UFC 300 was a love letter to all fans of the sport.

Brandon . 4/14/24 Brandon . 4/14/24

UFC Predictions Recap UFC 300 Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill

Just wow. Wow. Genuinely one of the greatest events the UFC has ever held. The latest UFC’s centennial event delivered big time. I am so glad to have been there to witness it live!

UFC Predictions Recap

Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill: Welp, so much for me parading my university’s campus saying Hill would sleep Pereira. Poatan was able to stop Hill with a perfectly timed left hook while Hill tried going for a left straight which ended up putting Hill down allowing for Pereira to hammer fist Hill out. Honestly well done to him. I though Hill had all the advantages and I was worried about his leg and honestly, his leg held up just fine. At the end of the day really, it really came down to who hit the big shot first, and that was Pereira. Congrats, he made me eat some crow in this one.

Weili Zhang vs Yan Xiaonan: What a fight this was! I was right to think that this fight would be really competitive. The score cards do not reflect that because Zhang was able to have really big moments throughout the fight, but Yan had so many moments on the ground where she surprised many people who totally counted her out fully in that aspect of her game and she has shown massive improvements there, even taking down and reversing Zhang multiple times. And on the feet, the truth is Yan was the better fight at sat Zhang down multiple times which was crazy to see because pretty much no one does that to Zhang besides Rose the first time she fought Zhang. Zhang’s grappling was able to help her prevail and get the win, and still.

Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway: This is the one I want to talk about most. I have seen some of the craziest moments the UFC has had in person live like Adesanya knocking out Periera, Usman knocking out Masvidal, Rose knocking out Zhang. I have seen some of the greatest fights the UFC has held like Chimaev vs Burns, Wonderboy vs Holland. This fight that I saw this past Saturday tops all those moments, and all those fights. This fight is the stuff of legends. Not only are we going to be thinking about this fight for not only just this week, not only the end of this year, not only the end of this decade, but also till the end of time. This fight was an all timer on the BIGGEST stage at UFC 300. This fight was a war, but it was pretty clear Max Holloway was the one who was winning this fight. In the last 10 seconds, Max Holloway, someone who pretty much had this win secured, decides, hey, Justin Gaethje, one of the most dangerous most hard hitting guys in the sport, lets bang in the middle. For Max Holloway to not only be willing to slug with someone like Justin Gaethje, BUT TO ALSO PUT HIM OUT COLD AT THE LAST SECOND?! One of the biggest IF NOT the biggest moment in UFC history that will be remembered till the end of time. Max Holloway earned that BMF belt by being a BMF. Well deserved, Max Holloway is a legend of the game and it only grew with a performance like this.

Here was the perspective of the KO live from my friend who I went with to UFC 300. The audio in this video does no justice to how loud it was to be in that arena. The crowd ERUPTED for this fight.

And here is my face after the Max Holloway KO happened.

This fight was something truly special.

Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan: This was a super close fight. I thought it could have went either way but I did think Arman pulled out the fight with damage. Charles did not fight this fight how I wanted him to fight this fight. He relies to much on his jiu jitsu. Against a guy like Arman, you are not going to submit him, he is just too good on the ground and way too positionally aware. Did Charles almost get him a few times, yes. But he had so much of a better shot fighting on the feet and putting it on Arman. Good win for Arman against someone who has been the top guy in this division for a while.

Bo Nickal vs Cody Brundage: What do I even need to say here? Yeah, no duh Nickal won. Cody Brudnage is not even in the same stratosphere as Bo Nickal skill wise. Why this fight was on the main card I don’t understand. Bo Nickal was in no trouble at any point in this fight and he did what he had to do to beat Cody Brundage.

Jiri Prochazka vs Aleksandar Rakic: Holy cow, this fight was amazing. If Holloway vs Gaethje didn’t happen on this card, this would have easily been Fight of the Night. Rakic is so damn good. I have 0 regrets picking him to win this fight because he looked phenomenal. But this dude Jiri is built different. Like, quite literally. I have NO idea how his chin was able to take all the shots that Rakic was throwing. His leg was so beat up too, but he kept coming forward hitting good shots of his own and ended up hurting Rakic first and getting the finish. How this fight was below the Bo Nickal fight is beyond me. This was an amazing fight and I suggest watching it if you just so happen to missed out.

Calvin Katter vs Aljamain Sterling: Besides the Nickal fight, this was probably the biggest dud of the card. Why? Because this fight was all Aljo from start to finish. It felt like Katter had 0 to offer in this fight. And as such, Aljo was able to out strike him and take him down over and over without any real problems. For Sterling’s debut, he looked really good and looks like he has a place in the featherweight division. Good win from Aljo.

Holly Holm vs Kayla Harrison: Some of the worst fight iq I have seen in a fight. Why, just why is Holly Holm trying to grapple with a 2 time judo gold medalist, is beyond me. As such, she got taken down by Kayla and beaten up bad by her as long as the fight lasted. Good win from Kayla, it was super one sided.

Sodiq Yusuff vs Diego Lopes: I was shocked to see how quick Lopes got it done. Sodiq’s chin let me down bad here as he took an uppercut in the clinch really quick and wasn’t the same and got finished real quick. I may need to stop doubting this Lopes guy, this dude has some of the best finishing instincts in the UFC and he showed it against a real guy like Sodiq who I thought would be able to drown Lopes.

Jalin Turner vs Renato Moicano: This was the biggest shock of the card for me. I thought Turner would be the lock of the card. But wow, Money Moicano was able to do what he wanted to Turner. I did not see him having the succuess with the wrestling as he did. And Turner did have Moicano hurt bad after knocking him down, but decided not to go down and finish him. I thought Moicano was done there, but he was able to rally and finish Turner in the very next round. Just wow. Moicano said something in his post fight speech that I loved, “I CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE”. That’s such a good mentality to have and I hope he keeps winning because he such an awesome guy and hilarious on the microphone.

Jessica Andrade vs Marina Rodriguez: I picked Marina Rodriguez to win here, and honestly, I thought she should have won this fight off of rounds 2 and 3. I thought she did more damage there in those rounds on the feet and was landing the way cleaner shots. The problem for her was that she had bad optics at the end of these rounds that likely was why the judges gave it to Andrade that were really unlucky for her.

Bobby Green vs Jim Miller: Bobby Green is that dude. I saw a lot of people picking Miller in this spot but I didn’t really get it because Bobby has great boxing and head movement and has been fighting the way better dudes. Really, all those things were shown off here and Bobby made it not a pretty night for Jim Miller.

Deiveson Figueiredo vs Cody Garbrandt. Cody did a lot better here than a lot of people thought he would and I thought he clearly won round 1! But in round 2, Figueiredo went to the wrestling and was able to control Cody down there and ultimately end up submitting him. Honestly, this went the opposite of how I thought it would go as I thought on the feet Figgy would have the major advantage in this fight and on the ground Cody would do a lot better, but I was totally wrong on that besides me picking Figgy to win.

Overall a fantastic card and an expeirence I will never forget. As to how well I did picks, I went 8-7 which is ok, could have been better and some of the fights could have ended up going my way, so I’m ok with that. As for betting, I did not bet this card but of the bets I suggested I didn’t do the best. I thought the best bets of the card were Bobby Green, Marina Rodirguez, and Jalin Turner. Only Bobby Green ended up hitting while Marina, who I thought should have won, and Jalin fumbled the bag. Otherwise for smaller bets, I was right on Aljo and Max, and wrong on Hill, Sodiq, and Rakic. Of those the only one I was super disappointed in at the end was Sodiq, he really showed me nothing tonight and should not have been finished as quick as he was. So this would not have been the greatest betting night, but picks wise it was good.

Up next, we don’t have UFC this week, so I’ll shift it to cover picks and bets for the PFL so that we can make some money! So stay tuned for that!

I’ll also go ahead and make a blog post talking about my time in Las Vegas and how it was overall!

Brandon . 4/13/24 Brandon . 4/13/24

UFC Predictions UFC 300 Pereira vs Hill Weigh in results

UFC PREDICTIONS

So weigh ins finished and the fighters for this card made my life easy and all made weight! But there have been other developments this week that does change things like the $300,000 bonus that is now replacing the $50,000 bonus for this card at UFC 300! Due to this, we are going to see some of the fighters try and do some really crazy things on Saturday. I was thinking Cody Garbrandt had a good chance to wrestle with Figgy and win like that, but his fight iq is awful, and with this new bonus I have a hard time expecting Cody to try and wrestle which is what he needs to do to win this fight. And this is one example, a lot of fighters on this card are going to shift themselves to try and get those bonuses so lets see what happens with them. This is going to be a crazy night of fights and I am so here for it. I do want to mention Kayla Harrison making weight. I was shocked, I thought she would look 10x worse than she did, so she for sure had a good weight cut for her bantamweight debut against Holly Holm. Something else we saw was that Jamahal Hill had some kind of abs when he weighed in! Shocking since we know Jamahal usually has a dad bod so to see him have abs tells me he put in a lot of time in camp. ALSO, Jamahal sizes up very well with Pereira. At middleweight Pereira was one of the biggest fighters that weight class had ever seen, but at light heavyweight he seems to fit right in. I love Jamahal Hill to win this fight so much so that I made a change my mind sign saying Jamahal Hill will sleep Alex Pereira and I was at the University of Florida campus to show it off. Not many people interacted with it except for a few “That’s a bold claim” and looks I got, but it was a fun thing I did just for the fun of it and trying to do additional PR for the website besides the flyers put up for champbetsmma.com.

So yeah, Jamahal Hill is someone I really like to win tonight. Lets see if that major injury is all settled with and we get a 100% Jamahal Hill.

Otherwise, most of the other fights I don’t have much to say about because they are great match ups and everyone sizes up well with one another. UFC 300 I really do believe is going to be one of the best cards we have ever seen, and I’m stoked to be going there to see it live! The hype is as real as it gets!

Brandon . 4/7/24 Brandon . 4/7/24

UFC Predictions Recap: Allen vs Curtis UFC Fight Night Vegas 90

UFC Predictions Allen vs Curtis

UFC Predictions Recap

So the most recent UFC fight night card has ended so lets do a recap on the event!

Main Card

Brendan Allen vs Chris Curtis: Oh my goodness. WHAT a fight. This is up there for fight of the year for me in the UFC with Whittaker vs Costa, Strickland vs Du Plessis, Poirier vs Saint Denis, and some others I’m forgetting. This was a really close back and forth battle and both guys looked great. Allen showed he can survive after getting hurt multiple times and was able to takedown someone with great takedown defense like Chris Curtis many different times is super impressive and he has clearly shown that his stand up is far more improved. Something I also want to mention, Brendan Allen’s clinch game is fantastic. His thai clinches he was getting on Curtis were pretty lethal with the knees he was throwing in them. I think Brendan Allen is the real deal and I would love to see him fight Dricus Du Plessis for the belt pretty soon. The grappling exchanges in that fight alone get me super hyped for that fight. Betting wise we made the right call going with Brendan Allen to win and he saved us from having a worse night.

Alexander Hernandez vs Damon Jackson: I think I did a pretty good job in my breakdown of this fight. Neither of these guys are really trustworthy and that showed in this fight. Hernandez was losing most of this fight because Damon is just flat out better. BUT, Damon Jackson’s chin got bonked really bad in round 3 and Hernandez almost got him out of there because of it, but Jackson was able to hold on and secure the win.

Morgan Charriere vs Chepe Mariscal: Alrighty, rant time. HOW, JUST HOW, did Marsical get the decision in this fight? When the fight ended, Morgan Charriere was -7500 on live odds for a reason. He clearly secured the first 2 rounds with damage which is the main scoring criteria for MMA. He was clearly the one who did more damage in this fight in those 2 rounds. I guess visual damage does not matter in round 1 when Chepe was bleeding like it does in other fights. Am I biased because Charriere was one of my biggest bets? Yep. The judges made a winning night into a losing night with this decision so yeah I’m not so happy about it. It is what it is though, stuff like this happens when you bet on a sport like MMA. What I do take away from this fight is this, Charriere has a massive future in the UFC and I am really looking forward to seeing what he has in store next because this dude is the real deal.

Ignacio Bahamondes vs Christos Giagos: Like I said, lock of the card. Bahamondes made this fight look easy. That head kick was a thing of beauty. Nothing much to say, well done Bahamondes. He did well for us betting wise, I probably should have put more on him to be honest but a win is a win.

Trevor Peek vs Charlie Campbell: I’m very impressed by Campbell’s showcase of fight iq. If he had decided to brawl with Peek, that fight would not have went anywhere near as well as it did for Campbell. I like seeing that from a fighter and Campbell is the man, good for him.

Prelims

Court McGee vs Alex Morono: Alex Morono looked pretty good in this fight when it was on the feet as expected going in. Court showed he does still have a chin and that his wrestling and submission defense is still very good even at his old age. Good look for Morono.

Valter Walker vs Lukasz Brzeski: This fight, was hilarious. I knew going in that this dude Valter Walker is an absolute fraud. And this fight showed it. I’m so glad I ended up picking Brzeski to win this fight and everything I talked about in my breakdown came to fruition. This dude Valter Walker legitimately has 2 takedown cardio and nothing else. I did live bet Brzeski (which sadly I don’t know how to track this on BetMMA.Tips at this moment) and man cashing that felt so good. People clearly did not do their tape study when praising Valter Walker and paid the price with betting him at over -300 which seems like an absolute joke now that the fight is over. Brzeski for the win.

Norma Dumont vs Germaine de Randamie: Yeah GDR’s age showed in this one sadly. Dumont was able to implement her grappling at 135 and she looked good, although, she really didn’t do too much when on the ground to be honest. Good win for Norma over a former champion in GDR.

Pedro Falcao vs Victor Hugo: In my weigh in blog post, I talked about how this fight was a good arb opportunity live bet. I got it right! Falcao was able to round 1 relatively easy because of his style but as the fight kept going on Victor Hugo ended up taking over. I was able to get this arb chance and that felt pretty good! Shout out to Falcao for fighting a guy like Hugo on 2 days notice, that dude showed himself to be good and on full camp he can compete on this level. Good win by Hugo in the end.

Dan Argueta vs Jean Matsumoto: Okay, this one got me worried to begin with. Dan Argueta looked incredible round 1 because his pace and wrestling are very good and it looked like it was getting Matsumoto. But at the end of the round, things began to shift. Round 2, Matsumoto would keep finding his way back up and man he was stinging Argueta and showing that he was not gassing at all which really impressed me! This dude Matsumoto on the feet is a very dangerous dude. And that guillotine he caught Argueta in was literally perfect. This guy Matsumoto has a great future and I look forward to seeing more of him. Matsumoto was my 2nd biggest bet of the card and he made me very happy!

Dylan Budka vs Cesar Almeida: This one was a bummer for me. I was right that Budka was able to takedown Almeida without much of a problem really. But man, his gas tank was really suspect here which was really what did him in this fight. Almeida on the feet will be dangerous with pretty much anyone, so once Budka was tired he basically crumbled. I wish I didn’t put as much money as I did on Budka as he was my 3rd biggest bet on the card. I don’t think in retrospect it was bad to bet Budka, however, it was bad the amount of units I had on him which was 1.6 units. I for sure have learned my lesson in this one.

Melissa Mullins vs Nora Cornolle: Yeah I think the weight cut really got to Mullins and it felt like it showed in the fight. Nora was able to withstand the clinch exchanges and was able to work Mullins body and that’s what did Mullins in. Good win by Nora! I missed on Mullins too, luckily she was one of my not as big bets of the night.

So overall, it was a pretty fun card. Picks wise I did very well going 8-4. Betting wise I do feel robbed because of Charriere, but it happens, we will bounce back. We are still up on units and will push forward and make more!

Brandon . 4/6/24 Brandon . 4/6/24

UFC Predictions Weigh in Results Allen vs Curtis UFC Fight Night Vegas 90

Weight Misses

So weigh ins have finished and we have some very interesting things to recap. I’ll start with all the weight misses.

So Cynthia Calvillo came to the scale and ended up weighing in at 118 lbs for her 115 lbs bout. As a result of this, the fight has been called off. I honestly think this is Calvillo’s final straw and she is getting cut from the UFC, especially since she has been on a long losing streak now.

Alexander Hernandez also missed weight at 150 lbs. Hernandez came back to weigh in later and missed weight at 147.5 lbs and he was visually more drained, although, that is nothing compared to Damon Jackson who looked like death on the scale when he made weight. The fight will go on but to me this is an advantage to Hernandez.

Both Melissa Mullins (Dixon) and Nora Cornolle missed weight at 138 lbs and 138.5 lbs. It looked like Nora didn’t have a problem with the weight cut but Melissa was showing it visually with her mouth gaping open on the scale. I am a little bit worried about Mullins more than I originally was but I do think she does win here and cashes in our bet on her.

The Rest Of The Weigh Ins

So now that we have gone over the weight misses, lets look at the other fights.

For the main event, Allen I thought didn’t look the best on the scale, he did look like he had to do a weight cut to make weight for this fight. Chris Curtis on the other hand, wow! Reminded me of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 266 where he was dancing and all ready to go. Easily made weight, great look for Curtis. Allen is clearly the bigger guy is this match up when they faced off, so lets see if Allen learned from his mistakes last time and is able to use his range against Curtis.

Morgan Charriere I thought looked fantastic on the scale and he gives me more confidence in him that he is ready to go in this fight with Mariscal. Mariscal looked good on the scale as well, although, I didn’t like how he was walking to and from the scale. I’m not going to look too much into that, Marsical is likely just fine, but it was something I noticed. When they faced off, both looked like they were similar sizes.

Giagos was one of the first on the scale and made weight with 0 problems and looked good! Bahamondes on the other hand needed the box of shame in order to make weight and he hit 156 lbs with that. Bahamondes honestly looked pretty good even though he needed the box and I like him to win this match up here against Giagos. Bahamondes has a massive length advantage which was evident with their face off.

Trevor Peek vs Charlie Campbell. I thought both look good on the scales! No problems! It does look like Campbell is a lot bigger than Peek when they faced off so I that will be a factor for this fight. Should be a fun one!

Court McGee vs Alex Morono. Both looked good on the scales. Both are professionals so of course this was the case. I was surprised to see Morono look to be a similar size as Court, which does make me think Morono has an even better chance at winning this fight.

Norma Dumont vs Germaine de Randamie. GDR looked good on the scales and of course is a big girl for 135 lbs. What I was super surprised about is how Norma was the very first one on the scale and made 135 lbs with 0 problems and she looked good for her first time at this weight class! I’m very interested in this fight and I think it can go either way. If this was years ago GDR easily wins but with the super long layoff and Dumont coming into her own, we shall see what happens.

Pedro Falcao vs Victor Hugo. So I mentioned in my video breakdown that I would do more research on this fight since it was newly made when I recorded it and I have. Pedro himself is a very good wrestler and grappler and has a tendency to be boring and hold which honestly could help him in this match up with an opportunistic fighter like Hugo. I do think Hugo has an advantage on the feet and can win like that. I feel like this is a good possible arb opportunity where you bet on Pedro pre fight, he does well with the wrestling early on, you live bet Hugo at a better number, and then Hugo catches Pedro at some point in the fight. That’s what I think will happen in the fight, but I’ll choose to stay away from it. Otherwise, both guys looked good on the scale and faced off well with one another.

Dan Argueta vs Jean Masimoto. Dan Argueta is shreadded! He looked really good on the scale although he did need the box of shame to make it. Masimoto also looked fantastic, but did not need the box. Both size up very well with one another for this fight.

Dylan Budka vs Ceasar Almeida. Wow Almeida is huge! Both made weight without any problem. When sizing up with one another Almeida is clearly the bigger guy. Although, if I’m honest, I was going in thinking Budka would be a lot more smaller than he was with Almeida which I think is interesting.

Brandon . 4/1/24 Brandon . 4/1/24

Fiorot Dominates Blanchfield! Blanchfield vs Fiorot UFC Fight Night Atlantic City Recap

UFC Fight Night Atlantic City, Blanchfield vs Fiorot has just ended and wow, this was a wild card. And honestly, I don’t think I mean that in a good way this time as I usually would.

In the main event, we saw Manon Fiorot 50-45 Erin Blanchfield. I called this fight perfectly in my breakdown on youtube: https://youtu.be/r6qF2QEs7bI?si=NaNTVX6_83l2vRtQ Erin Blanchfield’s whole fighting style plays into everything Manon does perfectly and it showed. Manon Fiorot was my biggest bet of the night winning us 3 units and she saved the betting night for us at Champ Bets making it the 2nd straight winning night for us since we started 2 weeks ago!

Luque vs Buckley was a wacky fight. I honestly didn’t think either guy was really doing all that great if I’m honest. Buckley wasn’t really hitting anything clean on Luque round 1 who was defending really well but Luque wasn’t throwing anything crazy back either and was unsuccessful with the takedown attempts. Then in round 2, Luque tries to go for a takedown, doesn't go well and then pulls guard, and honestly just quits. Sad to see as everyone loves Luque. Credit to Buckley for doing what he had to do to win, now he is ranked and is looking up.

Silva vs Weidman. Wow, eye pokes galore. The reffing in this fight was flat out AWFUL. What’s the point of not eye poking if they aren’t going to take a point from you? You might as well just do it. In fact, the finishing sequence was all because of 2 eye pokes from Weidman. Besides all that stuff which was annoying, Weidman did look good. A lot better since that Tavares fight so that was good to see.

Ruziboev vs Dumas. Ugh, this one hurt. In my breakdown I mentioned how Ruziboev was a gasser and only really had 1 round of cardio. I was loving how the fight was going because Dumas was not getting hit clean at all and pushing Ruziboev back over and over pressuring him. It was setting up for Dumas to out cardio him and get Ruziboev in the later rounds. But, eyepoke. A really bad one. And the ref didn’t see it and just let Dumas crumble from oncoming shots from Ruziboev. Oh well it is what it is, Dumas was a shot on odds that were super off and I do stand by that bet. Glad I didn’t go super heavy on Dumas because I would have really regretted it if I did. 1 unit lost on Dumas.

Algeo vs Nelson. Awful stoppage. Algeo was still on the feet and was asking for a fire fight even when he was hurt and was still throwing back. I’m pretty mad at myself I didn’t keep my Algeo fade that I have been doing for every fight of his since he fought Brito because I would have been right this time on that, but whatever it is what it is. Glad I didn’t put any money down on this one to say the least.

Njokuani vs McKee. There is someone on this earth who scored this fight 29-28 McKee. Insanity. This was a clear Njokuani win, 29-28 MINIMUM. This wasn’t exactly the fight I thought it was going to be. I was expecting to see Njokuani throw a lot more at the beginning, but props to him because he maintained good cardio throughout and man he is massive for welterweight. Rhys legit did not have the desire to strike with Chidi and just wanted to hold against the fence. So great work on Chidi, he looked good! We made .42 units off Chidi which was nice to have.

Landwehr vs Emmers. NATE THE TRAIN IN THE UFC! Emmers was looking great to start with by knocking down Nate the Train. But like, again, Emmers fight iq. Why are you fighting Nate the Train’s type of fight. He lives for fire fights. And as a result, Emmers bit the dust and Nate The Train tired him out and got the KO in round 1. Well done Nate, you the man.

Godinez vs Jandiroba. Honestly, I scored this fight for Loopy, but I do get why someone can score this for Jandiroba. Loopy made her life 10X harder in round 2 when she wanted to grapple with Jandiroba. Like, why are you grappling with the grappler when your stand up is so much better? I just don’t get it. Even then, I thought the damage Loopy did on the feet outweighed all the grappling that Jandiroba did in rounds 2 and 3. Again not a big deal, we lose 0.46 units on Loopy. Glad we kept it easy on her, as she has shown fight iq is not her strong suit.

Arce vs Burns. I mean, yeah, this was what most people thought this fight would be. I felt like Burns had a good chance to get Arce in a sub, either by taking down Arce or by Arce being a fool and taking Burns down. But credit to Arce, that takedown defense was on point and he folded Burns as the fight kept going.

Buzukja vs Matthews. Fun fight! Dennis looked the best he had ever looked in the UFC in this fight. That leg kick he had was MONEY on Matthews. Dennis ended up finding the KO and I’m very happy for him! He was dealt a lot of bad hands fighting Emmers and Woodson but finally got a win in the UFC, congrats!

Arslan vs Turkalji. Bad stoppage. Maybe not awful, but I will say bad. I think the Pleasure Man could have tried to latch onto Arslan to try and regain composure, but not given the chance to do so. I think that sucks because Turkalj was fighting for his job in this fight. I’m hoping since this fight was given the fight of the night bonus they wont cut the Pleasure Man, but my hopes are not up for that.

Dudakova vs Gatto. So uh, this fight fell off the card because Dudakova was sick. Sad to see tbh I was excited for this one. Next.

Petroski vs Malkoun. Literally the weirdest stoppage I have ever seen. Petroski attempts a takedown, and gets KOed because of hitting Malkoun’s hip. We watch a WILD sport haha.

Pacheco vs Loughran. Great win by Loughran! Angel is an absolute warrior and showed it in this fight. I felt like tides were shifting in Angel’s favor but unluckily he rolled his ankle and that fight was pretty much over when that happened.

So overall, wacky card with so much weird things to happen and a lot of those things were BS quite frankly. Betting wise we did good thanks to Chidi and Manon so shout out to those two! Very excited for the card this week in Allen vs Curtis! And after that, is the UFC 300!

Brandon . 3/29/24 Brandon . 3/29/24

UFC Predictions: Blanchfield vs Fiorot UFC Fight Night Atlantic City Weigh Ins and Face Offs

Weigh ins have finished and so have the face offs so lets go over them real quick!

Erin Blanchfield vs Manon Fiorot - Erin looked great on the scale having 0 problems at all. Manon on the other hand, wow she was drained. She is clearly a massive flyweight like I have been saying this week and she cuts weight like one. The size difference was very clear in the face offs. Manon Fiorot has a MASSIVE size advantage going into this fight with Erin Blanchfield which I believe will give Erin a lot of problems in this one. I wish Fiorot had a better weight cut so I can feel more safe about the cardio, but I still have a lot of belief in her to be able to get this one done. Also, it’s not like Fiorot has always looked amazing on the scale. Fiorot noticeably looked bad against Rose in her fight in Paris, but she ended up winning that fight no problem, so I think we should be good. Fiorot is my biggest bet this week at 2 units, so I do have a lot of confidence in her to win still. I did mention how I would consider putting more units on her, but after the weigh in, I’ll opt out on it and stick with the 2 units which is more than enough. Onto the next one!

Vicente Luque vs Joquin Buckley - Both looked good on the scale. It does seem like Luque is not as big as he used to be, but still, he looks good to go for tomorrow. Buckley is clearly massive for 170, and man Buckley is filled out. Very good look for Buckley.

Chris Weidman vs Bruno Silva - Weidman looked good, about what we would expect for Weidman at this time in his career. Silva looked good on the scale, nothing crazy, not much to discuss.

Nursulton Ruziboev vs Sedriques Dumas - Ruziboev is very big. Looked good on the scale without having any problems. Dumas also looked very good on the scale himself without having any problems. I do have 1 unit on Dumas this weekend so I am taking a shot on the dog. I still feel the same and am riding with Dumas here.

Bill Algeo vs Kyle Nelson - Both looked good on the scale, although I will say, I do believe that cut is getting to Kyle Nelson. Nelson looking very sucked out at the scale. As shown in the face off, Algeo is taller and Nelson’s broader.

Chidi Njokuani vs Rhys McKee - Man, Chidi made weight! Did Chidi not look good on the scale? Yes he didn’t. But honestly, considering how Chidi was one of the first ones on the scale ready to weigh in, I take that as a good sign that the weight cut ended up going well. Anyways, Rhys McKee had 0 problems and weight with no problem. In the face off, man, Chidi is BIG. Taller than Rhys which Rhys is for sure not going to be used to. So after seeing this, I trust in Chidi to pull this off. I have 0.59 units on Chidi to win this fight. I really think it’s going to be similar to how Josh Emmett vs Bryce Mitchell happened. Was Bryce super tough, yes, but man he gets hit and a puncher like Emmett can put you out with just 1 punch. The exact same thing is true for Chidi vs Rhys, Chidi is going to find Rhys and hurt him bad.

Nate Landwehr vs Jamall Emmers - Both looked good on the scale without having any problems. Both guys sized up really well as well close to one anothers height. I was honestly expecting Nate the Train to be just a little bit shorter but I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasn’t the case.

Virna Jandiroba vs Lupita Godinez - Both looked good on the scale without having any problems. I will give Loopy this, she looks strong and I think she will be able to have the muscle to compete in the wrestling with Jandiroba. I did end up putting 0.46 units on Loopy to win this fight.

Julio Arce vs Herbert Burns - Man, this one is weird. So Julio Arce did end up missing weight at 147.25 lbs missing by 1 lbs. The really weird part was that Arce came in early on in the weigh in, saw that he missed weight at 147 lbs, went back to cut more weight, after doing so returned and weighed in again, and weighed more at 147.25. Like, how does that even happen. Insanity haha. Something I do want to note, Arce didn’t have as good a weight cut for this fight. Which, is so weird considering he moved back up from bantamweight for this fight, so you wouldn’t think this would be the case. Just so weird. Herbert Burns on the other hand, did looked sucked out but overall was good. The face off both are very similar height and match up well there. I wont lie, I’m tempted to put a little bit on Burns here, but I’ll keep it safe and just stay away from this fight. Feels like something weird is going to happen so probably better to stay away in my opinion.

Dennis Buzukja vs Connor Matthews - Both looked good on the scales which is good to see! When they ended up facing off, Buzukja did look bigger which I think does help him here in this match up. Should be a good fight.

Ibo Aslan vs Anton Trukalji - Both Anton and Ibo looked good on the scale and face off very well with Anton just being a little taller. I will say this though, something about Anton’s body language puts me off. It’s like, he really really does not care. Maybe he is being super stoic but for me it doesn’t inspire confidence in me. I’m not going to look too much into that but it was something I noticed.

Viktoriia Dudakova vs Melissa Gatto - Both girls looked very good on the scale! I thought Dudakova filled herself up very well at this new weight class at flyweight. When facing off, Gatto did look a little bigger than Dudakova.

Andre Petroski vs Jacob Malkoun - Both ended up looking good on the scale, with Petroski in particular looking very shredded. Both faced off well and Petroski looked just a tad bit taller.

Angel Pacheco vs Caolan Loughran - I thought both looked really good here, and I think that’s a really good sign for Angel since this is his first time at the Bantamweight weight class. At the face off, Angel for sure looked like the bigger dude which I think can help him in this match up.

Brandon . 3/27/24 Brandon . 3/27/24

UFC Predictions: Blanchfield vs Fiorot Prediction and Breakdown

We have an amazing main event this weekend at Atlantic City for the UFC! 12-1 Erin Blanchfield takes on 11-1 Manon Fiorot for 5 rounds.

To me, this is the best women’s fight the UFC has made in years. Both these girls are amazing and can 100% be the champ of the women’s flyweight divison. Both are undefeated within the UFC promotion, and are bidding for the title shot as Grasso vs Shevcehnko 3 looms as they are not booked to fight yet. In my eyes, this is a clear number 1 contenders fight and the winner of this main event fights for the belt next, END OF STORY!

So then, who will win? After doing a bunch of research in high anticipation for this fight, I really believe this is Manon Fiorot’s fight to win.

GASP! Pick against THE Erin Blanchfield! Yep, I’m doing it. So what goes into this prediction? A few things.

1. The Movement. Manon Fiorot has excellent lateral movement which I believe will give Erin Blanchfield many problems. Honestly, Blanchfield is ploddy and doesn’t really cut off the cage. It’s going to be hard for Blanchfield to really get to Manon to intiate the wrestling in order to get the fight down. Along with that, Manon has no problem fighting on the back foot. We know that Blanchfield is incredibility tough and will keep coming forward, but Fiorot is totally fine with this happening and can land strikes going backwards and laterally. Also, since we are in Atlantic City for this one, we are in the bigger cage, which does also help favor Manon Fiorot since she has more room to utilize her movement.

2. Manon’s Takedown Defense and Erin’s Wrestling. Fiorot is currently sitting on a 91% takedown defense within all her fights in the UFC. Manon not only has great takedown defense, but from what we have seen, a good get up game. When Jenifer Maia got Fiorot down, Fiorot was fighting for her LIFE to get right back up and she did that pretty easily. Rose has shown she can grapple and wrestle in the past, she even took down one of the better wrestlers in Strawweight in Zhang Weili in their 2nd fight, but she had so much trouble getting takedowns on Fiorot. Rose was clearly getting outpointed and out worked on the feet, so why didn’t she go for more takedowns on Manon? It was basically hopeless because of how good her takedown defense was so she was more willing to fight on the feet. Now, what about Blanchfield’s wrestling? From what we have seen, her wrestling is not great at getting girls down (I should clarify to be clear, Blanchfield has EXECLLENT GRAPPLING. Just the wrestling is a hole in her game). Blanchfield had so much trouble taking down Talia Santos and only had any sort of succuss when she gassed out. She had trouble taking down Andrade until Andrade had the wardrobe malfunction which allowed for Erin to get on top. I think a girl like Manon is going to give Erin so many problems because of that excellent takedown defense of hers paired with Blanchfield’s not so good wrestling.

3. Striking. I mean, what do I really need to say? Manon is going to T off on Erin’s face as long as they are on the feet. Manon has very good volume and very good power as well. Blanchfield is coldblooded though, so she will keep coming forward as long as she is still ready to go, but man she is going to have to take some BIG shots from Fiorot in this one. In my eyes, there is a reason why girls are not trying to pressure Fiorot, and that’s because she has heat in her striking. I’ll give credit to Blanchfield after doing some tape, she does move her head. Even with her moving her head though, she does still get hit a lot, and a girl like Fiorot hitting you like she does, that’s going to be rough for Blanchfield.

4. Physicality. As I said earlier and want to reiterate again, Manon Fiorot is a MASSIVE flyweight. I do think Manon’s size is going to cause big problems for Blanchfield in terms of trying to outmuscle Fiorot and take her down. Something I do want to push back on that I have seen a lot of people say is going to happen in this fight is the notion that Manon Fiorot “will gas out in the later rounds.” Fiorot has shown she has good cardio. In fact, she has gone 5 rounds before and had 0 problem doing so with a bunch of striking as well as grappling involved in that fight. In fact, to further push this point, Manon Fiorot was the one who asked to fight Blanchfield in a 5 rounder. https://x.com/mma_orbit/status/1661078639696330760?s=20 Fiorot was the one who wanted this! I think she has trust in her gas tank and I’m willing to put my trust into it as well.

Those are the big main reasons why I do believe Manon Fiorot will be victorious against Erin Blanchfield. Where odds are at now, with Blanchfield at -190 and Fiorot at +150 on HardRock Bet, to me, its a no brainer to back the dog in Manon Fiorot in this spot.