UFC heads east this weekend, with Saturday night’s Fight Night 205 set for Columbus, Ohio, and the Nationwide Arena. Curtis Blaydes and Chris Daukaus will square off in a heavyweight bout as the evening’s headliner. For the co-main event, Joanne Wood will tangle with Alexa Grasso in a women’s flyweight bout. The entire night’s action will broadcast on ESPN+. We have UFC betting predictions for the primary fights and the complete fight card below.
UFC Fight Night 205 → Blaydes vs Daukaus Preview
Main Card (ESPN+)
- Curtis Blaydes vs Chris Daukaus (Heavyweight)
- Joanne Wood vs Alexa Grasso (Women’s Flyweight)
- Matt Brown vs Bryan Barberena (Welterweight)
- Askar Askarov vs Kai Kara-France (Flyweight)
- Ilir Latifi vs Alexey Oleynik (Heavyweight)
- Marc Diakiese vs Viacheslva Borschev (Lightweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
- Neil Magny vs Max Griffin (Welterweight)
- Sara McMann vs Karol Rosa (Women’s Bantamweight)
- Chris Gutierrez vs Danaa Batgerel (Bantamweight)
- Aliaskhab Khizriev vs Denis Tiuliulin (Middleweight)
- Jennifer Maia vs Manon Fiorot (Women’s Flyweight)
- Matheus Nicolau vs David Dvorak (Flyweight)
- Luis Saldana vs Bruno Souza (Featherweight)
Curtis Blaydes (15-3, 10-3 UFC, -400) vs Chris Daukaus (12-4, 4-1 UFC, +300)
is Blaydes’ latest step toward contention in UFC’s top class. He debuted against Francis Ngannou in 2016 as the favorite, due to his immense size, but while he demonstrated the wrestling that had contributed to his hype, he lost on the cards. He also took punishment from Ngannou without going down, but he has had a slow climb up the standings. He improved his striking game and earned a rematch with Ngannou, but this time around it only took Ngannou 45 seconds to knock Blaydes out. One of his most impressive wins came in 2020, as he used his striking to beat Junior dos Santos in a main event. However, Derrick Lewis knocked him out in his next fight; he bounced back to beat Jairzinho Rozenstruik in September with his wrestling. Will he win and get a step closer to a title chance, or will he take another knockout?Daukaus joined UFC with four consecutive knockout wins. His size is not all that dominating, but he has quick hands and relative speed for the classification, so he can move in and find holes in his opponents’ defenses before they can deliver punishment. When he beat Shamil Abdurakhimov in September, he entered the contender conversation, but then he lost to Lewis in December in a fight that featured Daukaus running away for much of the first round before Lewis closed in for the knockout. Blaydes is a different fighter from Lewis, but the end could be similar, as attempts to bring pressure could simply open up Daukaus’ defenses.
Final Prediction: Blaydes wins via knockout
Alexa Grasso (13-3, 5-3 UFC, -225) vs Joanne Wood (15-7, 7-7 UFC, +185)
gives us a terrific striker who can also hold her own on the mat, which made her loss to Felice Herrig in her second fight unusual, as that fight stayed mostly upright. Since then, UFC has matched her up primary with strong wrestlers who can slow down her game, which has led to tough losses to Carla Esparza and Tatiana Suarez. Grasso moved up to flyweight and has benefited, beating Maycee Barber on the cards in her last fight, an impressive win against one of the more sizable fighters in the division.Wood presents a tough test for Grasso, as she has also benefited from moving up from strawweight. At the lighter weight, Wood made it to contender conversations but ended up falling short against the more aggressive and speedier fighters in the division. She doesn’t have knockout power, but she brings enough pace simply to overwhelm her opponents on the cards. When she finds a harder-hitting opponent, though, things can be frustrating. Her last loss was surprisingly uneven, as Taila Santos simply dismantled her. In this fight, Wood will bring strikes at a faster pace, but even if Grasso can find a crack in her defenses, she also lacks knockout power. This means that things are likely to come down to the clinch, where Wood has excelled, particularly since moving up a division. Wood should be able to stack up enough points here, so I’m going with the value.
Final Prediction: Wood wins via decision.
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