The Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Canada, will host UFC Fight Night 151 on Saturday. The main event is a lightweight tilt between Al Iaquinta and Donald Cerrone, a former UFC Lightweight Championship challenger. The co-main event is a middleweight tilt between Derek Brunson and Elias Theodorou. You can catch the whole night’s action on ESPN+. We have the full fight card as well as UFC betting thoughts on a few of the bouts for your consideration.
UFC Fight Night 151 Betting Preview
Two finishers headline in the 🇨🇦 nation’s capital.#UFCOttawa pic.twitter.com/3amloryxzQ
— UFC (@ufc) May 1, 2019
- When: Saturday, 8 PM ET
- Where: Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Canada
- Live Stream: ESPN+
Main Card (ESPN+)
- Al Iaquinta vs Donald Cerrone (Lightweight)
- Derek Brunson vs Elias Theodorou (Middleweight)
- Cub Swanson vs Shane Burgos (Featherweight)
- Brad Katona vs Merab Dvalishvili (Bantamweight)
- Walt Harris vs Sergey Spivak (Heavyweight)
- Marc-Andre Barriault vs Andrew Sanchez (Middleweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
- Macy Chiasson vs Sarah Moras (Women’s Bantamweight)
- Aiemann Zahabi vs Vince Morales (Bantamweight)
- Kyle Nelson vs Matt Sayles (Featherweight)
- Arjan Bhullar vs Juan Adams (Heavyweight)
- Mitch Gagnon vs Cole Smith (Bantamweight)
Al Iaquinta (14-4-1, -140) vs Donald Cerrone (35-11, +120)
This fight brings us a question as to how far Cerrone can go in the lightweight division. He moved up to welterweight after taking a bad beating from Rafael dos Anjos, then the lightweight champion, he ran off four wins in a row before running into a wall, winning zero fights in 2017. He got an easier set of opponents in 2018 before returning to 155 pounds in January 2019. He took down Alexander Hernandez in a second-round finish. But Hernandez was just finding his way in the promotion; can Cerrone show that he is a contender against Iaquinta?
Iaquinta initially put together a solid series of wins in the promotion, thanks to solid boxing skills and consistent wresting. However, Iaquinta would retire from the sport in a dispute over a knee injury that UFC fought having to pay for with its insurance. Iaquinta came back to knock out Diego Sanchez but would retire again — only to come back to take on Khabib Nurmagedov at UFC 223 for a title fight. Iaquinta likes to come ahead and deliver pressure — which is Cerrone’s Achilles heel. However, Cerrone has the size advantage and Iaquinta does not have the power to knock Cerrone out easily. Cerrone also likes to wrestle, so going to the ground could give Cerrone a submission win. I see Cerrone using his experience to get the edge.
UFC Fight Night 151 Prediction: Cerrone wins via decisionDerek Brunson (18-7, -115) vs Elias Theodorou (16-2, -105)
This one features someone who had started to solidify a real UFC career, before starting to struggle mightily, in Brunson. He started out as a pure wrestler, but his striking game has improved to the point where he is a real knockout threat. He knocked out four opponents in a row, making him a contender, but he has had trouble since. He either hangs back and tries to go to the floor, without actually taking control of the fight, as happened with Anderson Silva, or he charges straight ahead with no regard for defense and gets rocked by people like Ronaldo Souza and Robert Whittaker. He also lost to Israel Adesanya, and that four-loss streak is hanging over him in his fight with Theodorou.
Theodorou has struggled as well. His looks and personality have made him a potential UFC marquee face, but his fighting career has not taken off. He lost to Thiago Santos and learned from that that he needed to get away from an approach that saw him charge ahead and get into trouble quickly. He has won five out of six, but it is still not clear what sort of fighter he is, as he tends to favor movement over power. As he starts to take on better competition, he will need to choose a style. Brunson has the better physical gifts, and while he makes mistakes, Theodorou has not shown that he makes people pay for mistakes.
UFC Fight Night 151 Prediction: Brunson wins via decision
