Two bantamweights on a win streak will meet head-on this Saturday in the main card of UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw in Las Vegas, as Kyler Phillips takes on Raulian Paiva. Who will extend their unbeaten streak? Who will move up higher in the bantamweight rankings? We will know after this fight. Check out our preview of Kyler Phillips vs Raulian Paiva below.
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Betting Preview for the Kyler Phillips vs Raulian Paiva Bantamweight Bout on July 24, 2021
Where: UFC APEX, Las Vegas, NV
When: Saturday, July 24, 2021
Odds: Kyler Phillips (-290) vs Raulian Paiva (+215)
TV Broadcast: ESPN
Betting on Kyler Phillips (-290)
MMA Record: 9-1-0
Phillips will enter this fight as the No. 14 fighter on the current UFC bantamweight rankings. He’s been on a roll, as he has won all his last four fights — three in the UFC. He made his UFC debut in February 2019 by scoring a win via unanimous decision win over Gabriel Silva. After that, Phillips scored a T/KO win against Cameron Else in October 2020, which also earned him Performance of the Night honors. In his last fight, Phillips dominated Song Yadong in a three-rounder to win via unanimous decision. Phillips is averaging 5.32 significant strikes landed per minute in the UFC and 2.88 takedowns per 15 minutes. He sent Yadong to the mat three times in their fight as well. That was a great way for Phillips to show that he’s not just all about striking, but he should still look to score points with his strikes against Paiva, given that he’s got a three-inch reach advantage in this upcoming bout.
Betting on Raulian Paiva (+215)
MMA Record: 20-3-0
Paiva will be fighting for the first time this year after going 2-0 in 2020. Last year, he knocked out Mark De La Rosa in the second round of their fight in February 2020 before edging Zhalgas Zhumagulov via unanimous decision in July 2020. Hopefully for Paiva, the long layoff hasn’t caused significant rust to develop in his game. He is still ranked 12th in the UFC bantamweight class despite not fighting for over a year, and this will be his chance to show that he deserves to move up that list. Paiva was supposed to fight last May in UFC Vegas 27 but got scratched after getting hospitalized because of a failed attempt to make the weight. Paiva is averaging 4.46 significant strikes landed per minute and just 0.26 takedowns per 15 minutes. However, his takedown defense has been great, having avoided 80 percent of his opponents’ takedown attempts in the UFC, thus far.
Writer’s Prediction
Phillips wins via knockout.
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