Our days of suffering through mediocre UFC fight cards are over – at least for the next two weekends. The UFC finally brings a banger of a card to the airwaves this Saturday – UFC 267 from Abu Dhabi (formerly known as UFC Fight Island). Then, the following week, we already get the next pay-per-view – UFC 268 from New York City.
The best part of this weekend’s pay-per-view card is it doesn’t cost anything – the UFC is airing it in the United States, at least, live on ESPN+. It’s also great that there really isn’t a dud among it’s 16 fight lineup, with two title fights topping the card.
The main event is for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, as champion Jan Blachowicz makes his second title defense, this time against Glover Teixeira. Much is made of Teixeira’s age (42 years old as of this past Thursday), but the champ is no spring chicken himself, clocking in at 38 years young. This will be Teixeira’s second attempt at winning the title, getting turned back by Jon Jones at UFC 172 in April of 2014.
Despite clawing his way back to title contention seven years later, I don’t see the results being any different for the Brazilian this time around. He’s going to get hit early and often by Blachowicz and has a very good chance of getting finished off with strikes. The champ retains at 2/7 is the pick.
205 pounds for @GloverTeixeira, your #UFC267 main event is locked in
[ #UFC267 | Tomorrow | 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙨 10:30𝙖𝙢𝙀𝙏 | 𝙈𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙙 2𝙥𝙢𝙀𝙏 | LIVE on ESPN+ | @VisitAbuDhabi | @InAbuDhabi | #InAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/bh5oqusXFn
— UFC (@ufc) October 29, 2021
Yan to Win Interim Title
The other “title” fight on the card is for the interim UFC Bantamweight Championship (so it’s only kinda a title fight). Former champ Petr Yan lost his title in his last fight after illegally kneeing challenger Aljamain Sterling, despite clearly winning the fight up to that moment. With Sterling on the shelf after surgery, Yan will go for the interim version of the title against Cory Sandhagen. And he’ll win that title as well, as he’s just great at all aspects of MMA and doesn’t really have any glaring weaknesses. I’m going chalk – Yan at 20/51, please and thanks.
Don’t worry – while I’m chalky on the top two fights of the night, I do have some underdogs for you. And one of them is a big one. We’ll begin with newcomer Benoit Saint-Denis at 9/5 in his welterweight fight against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. The 8-0 (1) Saint-Denis is inexperienced in terms of number of fights, but he has fought – and beat – exclusively fighters with winning records, so he does not have a padded resume. I’m counting on him using his strong grappling to beat the veteran dos Santos on Saturday and get his first UFC win.
Foolproof Underdog Pick
Next, let’s go with Michal Oleksiejczuk at 23/20 in a light heavyweight bout against Shamil Gamzatov. Gamzatov is a perfect 14-0, which probably explains this betting line, but I believe Oleksiejczuk matches up well with him. Oleksiejczuk is the slightly more active striker, and has better striking accuracy and defence than Gamzatov, so I’m betting on him peppering away on the feet and getting his hand raised.
Now for my big one. Makwan Amirkhani at 47/20. The man known as ‘Mr. Finland’ is up against the undefeated Lerone Murphy in a featherweight prelim fight on Saturday. And I think Amirkhani has a clear path to victory here. He’s a very good wrestler and submission artist, and stopping takedowns just so happens to be Murphy’s kryptonite (he only stuff 41% of takedown attempts on him). Amirkhani takes him down and rides out a decision victory – or maybe even works his way into a submission – and we cash a big betting ticket. Sounds like a foolproof plan.
