Best Bets For The UFC 231 Main Card

Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira has only lost one of his last seven fights and now looks as dangerous as ever inside the UFC’s Octagon. With his lethal kicks and long-range punches combined with excellent submission ability, Oliveira is a threat no matter where the fight takes place. The Brazilian steps into the cage this weekend after a 39-second KO/TKO victory over Carlo Pedersoli.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Gunnar Nelson inside the cage but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect the best-ever version of the talented welterweight. After being knocked out by Santiago Ponzinibbio in July 2017, Nelson has taken a break to work on becoming stronger and growing into the 170-pound division a little more. Now, Nelson looks fuller than ever before.

This fight almost surely won’t see the third round, and there’s a fair chance that it ends within the first five minutes. With Oliveira’s typically fast start and tendency to surge forward, we can expect him to rush out at “Gunni” and test his defense early and often.

We’re backing the underdog to come through with a big win here in Toronto.

Kyle Bochniak steps in here after his involvement in a memorable three-round battle with rising star Zabit Magomedsharipov in April 2017.

Bochniak has now lost three of his five bouts in the UFC and despite earning some credit for being an exciting fighter, now looks to be trending toward being cut from the promotion if he is unable to get some momentum going in his favor.

Dawodu debuted with the UFC in March this year and lost in just 39 seconds to a Danny Henry guillotine choke. Fortunately, the previously undefeated fighter bounced back and recovered some form by earning a unanimous decision over Austin Arnett in July.

Despite an uninspiring effort in his UFC career so far, Bochniak has never been finished. It’ll take an excellent performance from Dawodu to be the first, but we’re counting on him being the better fighter over at least two of the three rounds at UFC 231.

After a two-fight winning streak that involved big stoppage victories of Ovince Saint Preux and Corey Anderson, Jimi Manuwa wasn’t that far out of title contention. After all, he had only lost to Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson previously and had recently earned a victory over Jan Blachowicz. But a disappointing two-fight skid now sees him falling through the light heavyweight rankings.

Manuwa will be facing Thiago Santos, who recently stepped up to light heavyweight and looked outstanding against Eryk Anders in a main event in Brazil. After three rounds of punishment, Anders was forced to retire, and Santos had earned his sixth win in seven fights. His only defeat in that stretch was to David Branch at UFC Fight Night 128.

It’s difficult to predict what we’ll see from Manuwa and Santos in this fight, but we can expect mighty strikes and a constant threat of a stoppage. Manuwa’s boxing and pressure appear to be precisely the type of style that could cause problems for the Brazilian, considering he likes to plant his feet and launch heavy kicks into the body and head. If Santos is forced to fight while walking backward, expect Manuwa to pin him against the cage and unload vicious combinations.

The odds here are too wide, and we’re taking Manuwa to win in what should be a 50/50 fight.

Saturday, December 8 – 10:00 pm (ET) /  2:00 am (GMT)

Claudia Gadelha is coming off a win but taking a step down in quality of opponent at the UFC 231 main card. She’ll fight Nina Ansaroff, who is currently well down in the rankings (#11) compared to Gadelha (#3).