With this being Memorial Day weekend in the USA, the UFC is taking a rare week off from hosting an event. This ends a streak of seven-straight weeks of UFC fight cards and comes before they start up on a four-week straight run.
But this column takes no weeks off, so I thought now would be an apt time to give a brief preview of what looks like a fabulous summer of UFC events on the horizon. Let’s take a sneak peak at the biggest fights coming down the chute, including such boldface names as Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and Israel Adesanya.
UFC 263: Israel Adesanya vs Marvin Vettori – June 12th
We start things off with the next pay-per-view the UFC is putting on, UFC 263, which is scheduled to go down on June 12th in the Gila River Arena in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. The main event is a rematch three years in the making, but this time the UFC Middleweight Championship is on the line. Current champ Israel Adesanya was given the toughest fight of his MMA career on that night in 2018, eking out a split decision victory over Marvin Vettori. Now, coming off the first loss of his career in his unsuccessful bid to add Jan Blachowicz’s UFC Light Heavyweight Championship to his mantel, Adesanya gets a good bounce back fight (probably). I see him taking care of Vettori once more, and the current line at 10/31 at MansionBet seems to agree.
UFC 263: Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno – June 12th
The co-main event June 12th is also a rematch and is also for UFC gold. The belt on the line in this case is Deiveson Figueiredo’s UFC Flyweight Championship, as he is being put into an immediate rematch against Brandon Moreno. This is due to their first meeting last December going to a majority draw, with a point deducted from the champ for a low blow being the key factor. Despite losing a point, most pundits feel Figueiredo still won the fight, as do I, and I feel he wins the rematch as well. You can get him at 20/59 currently at MansionBet.
UFC 263: Leon Edwards vs Nate Diaz – June 12th
Nate Diaz’s much-anticipated return was supposed to happen at UFC 262 before a minor training injury pushed the fight ahead a month. This is the first time in UFC history that a non-title, non-main event fight will be scheduled for five rounds, and the winner will probably be next in line for a shot at Kamaru Usman’s UFC Welterweight Championship. Diaz has only won once in his last three fights and has been out of the cage since November of 2019. I like Leon Edwards to win this, but the current line for him of 2/13 I’d stay away from and wait for the casual money to come in on Diaz.
UFC 264: Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor – July 10th
This is the summer of the rematch in the octagon, as July’s pay-per-view is also a rematch, this time the rubber match between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, with both men owning a win over the other. Poirier was too much for the returning Irishman this past January, finishing him via strikes in the second round. Despite this, Poirier finds himself a slight underdog for act three, coming in at 20/23 to McGregor’s 5/6. I don’t see how this fight will be any different than this past January’s, but, as suggested above with betting on Edwards, I think the line on Poirier will become even better to bet on the closer we get to fight night.
*All odds correct at time of writing.