It’s time for UFC Fight Night Betting! Win After a weekend in Louisville, UFC returns to Las Vegas as the UFC Apex facility will host UFC on ESPN 58 on Saturday night. The main event will pit former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger Alex Perez against Tatsuro Taira. Ikram Aliskerov will meet Antonio Troccoli in a middleweight co-headliner.
The whole night’s action will be telecast on ESPN2 and live-streamed on ESPN+. Check out the full fight card, as well as our UFC Fight Night Betting predictions for several of the fights.
UFC Fight Night Betting Perez vs Taira Odds & Preview | MMA Odds
Alex Perez +154 vs Tatsuro Taira -185
Perez (25-8, 7-4 UFC) vs Taira (15-0, 5-0 UFC) is Perez’s next chance to continue a resurgence that has surprised most UFC observers. He came out of Dana White’s Contender Series’ first iteration back in 2017 and developed a reputation as a bullying grappler and wrestler. He had to split time between flyweight and bantamweight as the UFC considered eliminating the flyweight division.
In 2020, he beat Jussier Formiga to get a title shot against Deiveson Figueiredo. That shot went poorly, as Figueiredo didn’t even need two minutes to submit him. Then, Perez entered an unlucky phase, as nine cancellations between 2021 and 2023 put his career on pause.
The only fight he had during that time was a speedy loss to Alexandre Pantoja, who would move on to get the belt. In March, he was able to neutralize the wrestling game that marks young prospect Muhammad Mokaev’s fighting game.
Perez took a main event slot less than two months later against Matheus Nicolau, taking advantage of a counterpuncher to notch a knockout in the second round. Now, Perez comes out for his third fight in just over three months.
Taira is an exciting talent out of Japan. His striking is still a bit too tentative, and that slow pace at the beginning will eventually make it hard for him to get opponents to the ground, where his strengths are really located.
His striking has gotten stronger and more precise, as we saw when he knocked Carlos Hernandez out in December. Perez should be able to avoid Taira’s wrestling game; even though Perez has lost via submission in the past, Taira doesn’t bring enough pressure to deliver against a fighter like Perez.
Expect this to turn into a relatively pedestrian exchange of strikes. This should benefit Perez because of his power and pressure, and that’s why I’m taking him (and the value) here.
Fight Night Pick: Perez wins via decision
Ikram Aliskerov -900 vs Antonio Troccoli +600
Aliskerov (15-1, 2-0 UFC) vs Troccoli (12-3, 0-0 UFC) is only Aliskerov’s third UFC fight. He got a contract after Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022, and his first opponent was a difficult one in Phil Hawes.
Aliskerov’s bullying style met his match in Hawes, but he regrouped and started bringing the damage and knocked Hawes out. Since then, fights against Paulo Costa, Andre Muniz, Anthony Hernandez, and Nassourdine Imavov have all fallen through.
This time it was the fight with Muniz that got canceled, and now Troccoli comes in as a replacement – attempting to enter UFC for the fourth time. He actually earned a contract in 2019 after submitting his opponent on the Contender Series.
He failed the drug test after the fight, though, and that contract got voided. Furthermore, he’s only fought once in the last five years, but that fight was such a speedy victory that UFC brought him back.
Visa difficulties scrubbed him from a fight card in 2022, and an attempt to debut in May also ended up falling apart. What can we expect out of Troccoli after so much time without fighting?
Fight Night Pick: Aliskerov wins via submission
Main Card at ESPN2/ESPN+
- Alex Perez vs Tatsuro Taira (Flyweight)
- Ikram Aliskerov vs Antonio Troccoli (Middleweight)
- Timothy Cuamba vs Lucas Almeida (Featherweight)
- Brady Hiestand vs Garrett Armfield (Bantamweight)
- Asu Almabayev vs Jose Johnson (Flyweight)
- Josh Quinlan vs Adam Fugitt (Welterweight)
Preliminary Card at ESPN2/ESPN+
- Tagir Ulanbekov vs Joshua Van (Flyweight)
- Jimmy Flick vs Nate Maness (Flyweight)
- Carli Judice vs Gabriella Fernandes (Women’s Flyweight)
- Jeka Saragih vs Westin Wilson (Featherweight)
- Melquizael Costa vs Shayilan Nuerdanbieke (Featherweight)
- Josefine Lindgren Knutsson vs Julia Polastri (Women’s Strawweight)
This main event is one you don't want to miss 💥
— UFC (@ufc) June 7, 2024
Jared Cannonier vs @Imavov1#UFCLouisville | Tomorrow | Live on @ESPNPlus 📺 pic.twitter.com/2nsifKyjbX
Fight Night Betting Odds For Today
Xbet Betting Lines for the UFC
UFC Fight Night Betting Perez vs Taira
Love betting MMA? | Xbet Sportsbook offers up to date MMA Lines
