UFC 223 is about to go down this Saturday April 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Below we have listed the main event featuring Max Holloway vs Khabib Nurmagomedov along with the other key cards and a betting breakdown for each. Read on, but don’t forget to register here to make your picks.
Betting Preview for UFC 223 Featuring Max Holloway vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn
When: Saturday, April 7, 2018
TV Broadcast: Pay-Per-View (PPV), FOX Sports 1
Max Holloway (+325) vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov (-450)
Lightweight
Once again, Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov is not going to happen. I repeat: It is not going to happen. Ferguson suffered an injury during training, cutting loose the chances of a showdown between him and Nurmagomedov for the fourth time. Instead, Nurmagomedov is going to fight featherweight champion, Max Holloway who have a very short time to prepare for this bout. Holloway last fought in December, when he scored a knockout win against Jose Aldo in a rematch. Holloway is a striker, but his ground game could be tested by Nurmagomedov, so Holloway will have to prepare defending against takedowns. He’s good at though, as he has avoided 83 percent of takedowns in his career. As for Nurmagomedov, he will look to extend his unbeaten streak to 26 fights. Nurmagomedov is an extremely dangerous ground righter with eight wins via submissions.
WRITER’S PREDICTION: Nurmagomedov keeps his record clean with a submission victory.
Rose Namajunas (+105) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (-135)
Strawweight
There is quite a reversal of roles in this rematch. Unlike in the first meeting with Namajunas, Jedrzejczyk will come into Saturday’s fight as the challenger. She was knocked out in the first round by Namajunas in November to give the latter the strawweight belt. That remains Jedrzejczyk’s first and only career loss. Despite the setback, Jedrzejczyk is difficult to underestimate given her well-known striking ability. Jedrzejczyk lands 6.76 strikes per minute on 49.84 percent accuracy. Namajunas, on the other hand, lands just 3.56 strikes per minute, though she certainly has a psychological advantage over Jedrzejczyk. Namajunas only has one knockout win in her career, but has three first-round finishes.
WRITER’S PREDICTION: Jedrzejczyk gets her title back with a KO win.
Ranked 11th in the UFC featherweight division, Kattar will eye to move up the rankings when he goes up against Moicano this Saturday. Both fighters do not have plenty of UFC experience with Kattar only having two UFC fights, while Moicano only has four. Kattar, however, is undefeated in those two fights. He last fought inside the octagon last January, scoring a third-round knockout win over Shane Burgos. He also earned a unanimous decision over Andre Fili in his UFC debut in July of last year. As for Moicano, he is coming off his first UFC loss after a submission defeat at the hands of Brian Ortega in July. Kattar seems to be the better and busier striker between him and Moicano, though Moicano could also put to use his two-inch leg reach advantage.
Both Chiesa and Pettis are coming off respective losses, and two fighters looking for bounce back wins almost always are all the ingredients we need for an explosive bout. Chiesa lost to Kevin Lee via submission in June. Against Pettis, expect Chiesa to dictate the pace of the contest by taking Pettis to the ground. Chiesa has 15 takedowns in his UFC career with 10 wins via submissions. Chiesa also averages 2.71 takedowns per match on 40.54 success rate. As for Pettis, the ex-titleholder is trying avoid losing yet another fight after going down to Dustin Poirier via knockout in the third round of a November fight. Pettis can still display excellent striking skills which he sprinkles with a little of flash, making him an entertaining fighter to watch. He lands 2.81 strikes per minute with a 45.23 percent accuracy.
Iaquinta and his heavy fists are going to make an appearance inside the Octagon one again after an almost a year of inactivity. In his last fight, he knocked Diego Sanchez in the first round back in April of 2017. The 30-year-old native of Wantagh, New York, has won all of his last five outings, four coming y way of knockouts. Iaquinta owns a 13-3-1 record with a 54.4 percent knockout rate. Felder, meanwhile, is 15-3-0 with an even higher knockout rate of 67 percent. He last saw action in December, victimizing Charles Oliveira in a second-round knockout victory. Each of his last three fights have ended with him earning a knockout triumph, so expect Iaquinta to be wary of Felder’s power just as how Felder is going to worry about Iaquinta’s strikes.
