UFC 224 Betting Preview & Picks

UFC 224 heads to the Southern Hemisphere on Saturday night, with 13 bouts, all building to the main event, a women’s bantamweight title bout between the champ, Amanda Nunes, and challenger Raquel Pennington. There are several terrific fights on this card, so check out our MMA betting insights on the main event as well as a couple of the other bouts.

UFC 224 Betting Preview & Picks

Main Card (Pay-per-view)

• Amanda Nunes vs Raquel Pennington (UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship)
• Ronaldo Souza vs Kelvin Gastelum (Middleweight)
• Mackenzie Dern vs Amanda Cooper (Women’s Strawweight)
• John Lineker vs Brian Kelleher (Bantamweight)
• Vitor Belfort vs Lyoto Machida (Middleweight)

Preliminary Card (FX, starting at 8:00pm ET)

• Cezar Ferreira vs Karl Roberson (Middleweight)
• Oleksiy Olynyk vs Junior Albini (Heavyweight)
• Davi Ramos vs Nick Hein (Lightweight)
• Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs Sean Strickland

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass, starting at 6:15pm ET)

• Warlley Alves vs Sultan Allev (Welterweight)
• Thales Leites vs Jack Hermansson (Middleweight)
• Alberto Mina vs Ramazan Emeev (Welterweight)
• Markus Perez vs James Bochnovic (Middleweight)

Amanda Nunes (15-4) vs Raquel Pennington (9-5) features a champ in Nunes who has won six fights in a row and is mounting her third title defense as a heavy favorite (-700). Nunes, 29, took the title nearly two years ago at UFC 200, when she used a rear-naked choke to submit Miesha Tate, and then she delivered a knockout in the first round of Ronda Rousey at UFC 207 to defend her title the first time. She followed that up by beating Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 215 in a split decision. Pennington (+450) has won four bouts in a row, taking the last three to the cards. Her last fight was in November 2016, when she beat Tate by unanimous decision, but she has not fought since then. Her last two losses came via split decision against Holly Holm at UFC 184 in 2015 and against Jessica Andrade at UFC 171 in 2014. She would submit Andrade in the second round at UFC 191. UFC 224 Betting Prediction: Nunes via decision Ronaldo Souza (25-5, 1 NC) vs Kelvin Gastelum (14-3, 1 NC) is a bout for the next challenger slot for the middleweight belt. Souza (-150) delivered a knockout in the first round against Derek Brunson at UFC on Fox 27 back in January, gaining a bonus for Performance of the Night. He took on current champ Robert Whittaker back at UFC on Fox 24 and was knocked out. Gastelum (+120) returns from the welterweight division, where he struggled, but he has gone 2-1 with a no-contest since his return to this classification. He knocked out ex-champ Michael Bisping at UFC Fight Night in 122 back in November. UFC 224 Betting Prediction: Souza by knockout Cezar Ferreira (12-6 UFC) vs Karl Roberson (6-0 UFC) will feature a fighter in Ferreira who has been streaky during his time in the promotion. He won his first three UFC bouts and then dropped three of four, taking knockouts in the first round in all three setbacks. However, he has since won four of five, including a shocking submission win over Jack Hermanssen. He has four inches’ advantage of reach on Karl Roberson. However, Roberson impressed on Dana White’s “Tuesday Night Contender Series,” submitting the favored Ryan Spann in 15 seconds. He built a first-round stoppage streak of five bouts in a row, dating back to before his entry into UFC, and half of his wins overall have come via submission — although he also has kickboxing expertise if he needs to stand and fight. I’m not sure if Ferreira can outduel Roberson on his feet or on the ground, though. UFC 224 Betting Prediction: Roberson via submission Oleksiy Olynyk (55-11-1) vs Junior Albini (14-3) features one of the decorated veterans of MMA — with more than 20 years in the sport — who has also posted a respectable 4-2 UFC record despite his seniority. He submitted Viktor Pesta and Travis Browne (a fight in which he completed the first Ezekiel choke ever seen in UFC) he was submitted by Curtis Blaydes. Of his 55 wins, 40 have come by submission. Albini was a heavy underdog against Timothy Johnson in his UFC debut, but he delivered a knockout win and earned Performance of the Night. However, he was upset by Andrei Arlovski in his next bout. UFC 224 Betting Prediction: Olynyk via submission