UFC 241 Odds, Predictions & Picks

On Saturday night, UFC 241 will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The main event will be a rematch for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, featuring Daniel Cormier, the current champion, and former champ Stipe Miocic. The co-main event will be a welterweight bout featuring Anthony Pettis and Nate Diaz. You can watch the main card on pay-per-view, with the preliminary card on ESPN and the early preliminary card on UFC Fight Pass. We have the full fight card as well as MMA betting thoughts on several of the tilts on the slate.

UFC 241 Odds, Predictions & Picks

 

Event Info

• When: August 17, 2019. 9pm ET
• Where: Honda Center, Anaheim, California
• TV: PPV
• Live Stream: UFC Fight Pass

Main Card (Pay Per View)

• Daniel Cormier vs Stipe Miocic (UFC Heavyweight Championship)
• Anthony Pettis vs Nate Diaz (Welterweight)
• Yoel Romero vs Paulo Costa (Middleweight)
• Gabriel Benitez vs Sodiq Yusuff (Featherweight)
• Derek Brunson vs Ian Heinisch (Middleweight)

Preliminary Card (ESPN)

• Khama Worthy vs Devonte Smith (Lightweight)
• Raphael Assuncao vs Cory Sandhagen (Bantamweight)
• Manny Bermudez vs Casey Kenney (Bantamweight)
• Drakkar Klose vs Christos Giagos (Lightweight)

Early Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

• Hannah Cifers vs Jodie Esquibel (Women’s Strawweight)
• Kyung Ho Kang vs Brandon Davis (Bantamweight)
• Sabina Mazo vs Shana Dobson (Women’s Flyweight)

Daniel Cormier vs Stipe Miocic

• UFC 241 Odds: Cormier -145 / Miocic +115

The bout has been one of the most hyped matchups in UFC during all of 2019. Cormier won the first matchup convincingly, bringing the bout to an end in the first round. The fight began with an exchange of blows and a quick bout of grappling, and then Cormier landed a right on Miocic, who was knocked out. Then Cormier delivered a series of strikes on the groundto deliver the finish. This time, both fighters will try to put together the ideal circumstances for themselves. Miocic looks to keep things about medium-range, making the bout look like a boxing match. Cormier prefers to stay closer, either on the mat or in the clinch. Miocic is a terrific boxer who likes to set up behind his jab, using it to defuse attacks while establishing his own advance. He delivers combinations as well as anyone else in the promotion. He has solid cardio, particularly for a heavyweight, and he keeps his wits about him. He is at his best when he can keep moving forward, moving his opponent to the cage wall before delivering a series of combinations. Cormier also likes to move forward, but he has as his goal the clinch or moving to the mat, and he is almost always the better wrestler. He likes to move in with his arms stretched out, so that he can absorb jabs and other punches, and he also gets a sense of when it is the right time to move in for the clinch. He used this strategy in the first bout, but instead of moving into the clinch, he landed some strikes. Miocic can wrestle, but not nearly as well as Cormier. Miocic does well taking opponents down with a single-leg technique, but Cormier has a wide variety of ways to bring opponents down to the mat. Miocic can strike on the ground, but Cormier is an expert at moving to top position and then looking for the right position to either bring a submission or finish the bout with a series of strikes. Miocic has not fought since these two tangled in July 2018, which is a long layoff. Cormier has fought one time in between, taking apart Derrick Lewis. I expect the two fighters to come out with similar strategies. Cormier is still the better athlete, and he has had a fight in between the last match with Miocic and this one. Cormier should be able to use those arms to blunt Miocic’s offense and drive the rhythm. UFC 241 Prediction: Cormier wins via knockout

Nate Diaz vs Anthony Pettis

• UFC 241 Odds: Diaz +100 / Pettis -130

This one gives us the return of Diaz to fighting after taking three years off. He will take on Pettis, who knocked out Stephen Thompson in his debut in this classification. Diaz beat Conor McGregor in the lightweight division at UFC 196 but lost their rematch. Despite his inactivity, Diaz has stayed in the UFC Lightweight Top 15 until a short time ago. Pettis has alternated wins and losses in his UFC career until knocking out Thompson. He currently ranks #8 among UFC welterweights. Diaz’s style involves landing punches in numbers and controlling distance, and that approach has delivered him five wins via knockout or TKO. Pettis has a 50 percent knockout rate, thanks to a combination of strong striking and terrific kicking. Given Diaz’s lengthy layoff, I predict Pettis will win on the cards. UFC 241 Prediction: Pettis wins via decision