Ready for UFC Fight Night Betting? This weekend, UFC on ABC 6 will take place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The main event was supposed to feature former Robert Whittaker, the winner of The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes (welterweight division) and the former UFC Middleweight champ, against Khamzat Chimaev. Chimaev had to withdraw due to illness, and Ikram Aliskerov was bumped back a week to take Chimaev’s place.
In the co-main event, Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov will square off in a heavyweight fight. The main card will be broadcast on ABC with the prelims on ESPN, or you can stream the whole night’s action on ESPN+.
Read on to get the full fight card and our sports betting predictions on the top two tilts.
UFC Fight Night Betting Whittaker vs Aliskerov Odds & Preview | MMA Odds
Robert Whittaker -154 vs Ikram Aliskerov +126
Whittaker (25-7, 16-5) vs Aliskerov (15-1, 2-0) is Aliskerov’s shot at what would be a big step up with a win. The only pro fight he has ever lost came against Chimaev.
His UFC debut was a win over Phil Hawes, who managed to fight off Aliskerov’s bullying style, but all that meant was that Hawes left his defenses open for a big bomb, and Aliskerov delivered a knockout blow.
Aliskerov’s only other UFC fight came in October as he didn’t need much time to beat Warlley Alves in October.
Ikram Aliskerov looked like he would get a laugher against Antonio Trocoli a week ago, but Chimaev’s withdrawal actually brought both of those fighters to Saudi Arabia, and now Aliskerov could become a contender with a win.
Whittaker is becoming more of a gatekeeper than a contender himself because of recent losses, but the only way out of that role is to pick up wins.
He started out trying to cut down to welterweight but really prospered once he decided he would be happy as a middleweight near the end of 2016.
He knocked out Derek Brunson and Ronaldo Souza and then beat Yoel Romero to take the interim belt. After the retirement of Georges St. Pierre made the belt vacant, Whittaker received the real deal.
Ikram beat Romero in a rematch to defend the belt and had several other defense bouts fall through before losing the title to Israel Adesanya.
Physically, he’s starting to slow down, and each big hit he takes seems to do more damage.
When he lost to Dricus Du Plessis just about a year ago, we saw that Whittaker struggled against fighters who were simply willing to blend persistence and power.
Aliskerov likes to start with a bullying style, and if he can overwhelm Whittaker early, that could cause the main event to end quickly. However, if Whittaker can survive the storm, he should be able to start stacking points and wearing Aliskerov down.
Fight Night Pick: Whittaker wins via stoppage
Sergei Pavlovich -246 vs Alexander Volkov +195
Pavlovich (18-2, 6-2) vs Alexander Volkov (37-10, 11-4) could actually help either of these fighters get into the heavyweight title picture.
Volkov has seen his career get off the mat recently; in his early UFC days, his height and stamina allowed him to shut down most of his opponents.
Derrick Lewis ended that run with a knockout in 2018, sending him into gatekeeper status.
He developed a reputation of wearing fighters down with his consistency, although a listless win over Marcin Tybura, followed by a first-round submission loss to Tom Aspinall, suggested that he might be on the way out.
However, he bounced back, finishing Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Romanov and Tai Tuivasa. He was set to take on Jailton almedia a few weeks ago until UFC paired him with his training partner and fellow Russian, Sergei Pavlovich.
Pavlovich drew Alastair Overeem in an unkind UFC debut and got finished quickly, but his career has only risen since then.
He got an interim title shot against Aspinall at UFC 295, but Aspinall knocked him out in just 69 seconds. Pavlovich’s style is to get the brawl going, so this fight should have energy from the beginning.
Volkov could use his wrestling to get through Pavlovich’s iffy takedown defense, but Pavlovich should be able to deliver a big bomb first.
Fight Night Pick: Pavlovich wins via knockout
Main Card at ABC/ESPN+
- Robert Whittaker vs Ikram Aliskerov (Middleweight)
- Sergei Pavlovich vs Alexander Volkov (Heavyweight)
- Kelvin Gastelum vs Daniel ordriguez (Middleweight)
- Sharabutdin Magomedov vs Antonio Trocoli (Middleweight)
- Johnny Walker vs Volkan Oezdemir (Light Heavyweight)
Preliminary Card at ESPN2/ESPN+
- Nasrat Haqparast vs Jared Gordon (Lightweight)
- Muhammad Naimov vs Felipe Lima (Featherweight)
- Rinat Fakhretdinov vs Nicolas Dalby (Welterweight)
- Kang Kyung-ho vs Muin Gafurov (Bantamweight)
- Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs Brendson Ribeiro (Light Heavyweight)
- Xiao Long vs Lee Chang-ho (Bantamweight)*
*-Road to UFC Season 2 Bantamweight Tournament Final
Ended his last fight with fireworks 💥@Ikram_Aliskerov hopes to excite in the #UFCSaudiArabia main event!#RiyadhSeason | @RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/kEbayMwbst
— UFC (@ufc) June 20, 2024
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