UFC Fight Night 131: Rivera vs Moraes MMA Betting Preview

The Adirondack Bank Center, in Utica, New York, is the site for UFC Fight Night 131, set for Friday, June 1. The main event is a five-round tussle between Jimmie Rivera and Marlon Moraes, two of the top bantamweight contenders in the promotion. The co-main event features Gregor Gillespie and Vinc Pichel, two contenders in the lightweight division. You can find the main card on FS1 starting at 10pm Eastern time, with the early prelims starting at 6:30pm on Fight Pass and the later prelims on FS1 starting at 8pm. Check out the fight cards and our MMA betting preview for the main event.

UFC Fight Night 131: Rivera vs Moraes MMA Betting Preview

Main Card (FS1, 10pm Eastern)

• Jimmie Rivera (-115) vs Marlon Moraes (-105)
• Gregor Gillespie vs Vinc Pichel
• Walt Harris vs Daniel Spitz
• Jake Ellenberger vs Ben Saunders
• Julio Arce vs Daniel Teymur
• Sam Alvey vs Gian Villante

Preliminary Card (FS1, 8pm Eastern)

• Sijara Eubanks vs Lauren Murphy
• Nik Lentz vs David Teymur
• Belal Muhammad vs Chance Rencountre
• Desmond Green vs Gleison Tibau

Preliminary Card (Fight Pass, 6:30pm Eastern)

• Jessica Aguilar vs Jodie Esquibel
• Johnny Eduardo vs Nathaniel Wood
• Jarred Brooks vs Jose Torres

In the main event, Jimmie Rivera (21-1) has finished six opponents and won the other 15 victories via decision, and he comes into this bout with a 20-fight winning streak on the line, with his most recent win coming back in July against Thomas Almeida. He lands 4.6 significant strikes per minute, with an accuracy rating of 41 percent. His takedown average is 1.2, with 33.3 percent accuracy. Against Almeida, he landed 75 strikes, knocking his opponent down twice. His last loss came all the way back in 2008, to Jason McLean. He is solid when standing, but he is an elite grappler, who has avoided takedowns in all five of his fights in UFC. He prefers to win by grinding his opponent down over the course of the fight, but he has knocked out three of his last seven opponents, so his striking power is something to respect as well. Marlon Moraes (20-5-1) has nine wins via knockout and other 11 via submission or decision. His last fight came in December, as he beat Aljamain Sterling, giving him five wins in his last six bouts. He lands 3.1 significant strikes per minute, with an accuracy rating of 32.5 percent. He averages 0.5 takedowns, with 25 percent accuracy. His win over Sterling was particularly impressive, as it came in just over a minute of action, and his big knockout picked up Performance of the Night honors. He has just one loss since the start of 2012, and four of his last five wins have come via the knockout. He can succeed with a wrestling approach, but he can bring the big knockout bombs as well. Moraes has the advantage in terms of striking power, but he has significantly less accuracy than Rivera, who likes to come aggressively. Rivera has the advantage in terms of versatility, and he has the ability to counter the striking from Moraes. Given Rivera’s preference to take things to the ground, he has an advantage in that area of the game. I see Rivera using this approach to wear Moraes down over the course of the fight. There is some drama coming into this fight, as Rivera has said that he doesn’t think that Moraes deserves the shot, given that he has just a 2-1 record in UFC. He also called Moraes’ knockout of Sterling lucky, as Sterling looked like he leaned into Moraes’ head kick going for a takedown. Rivera is also upset about the fact that Moraes drew a top-five opponent in his first UFC bout, while Rivera had to work his way up into bouts with top contenders despite having held belts in three different organizations before coming into UFC. So there’s plenty of motivation on both ends in this one. UFC Fight Night 131 Betting Prediction: Rivera wins via decision