UFC heads to Houston, Texas, on Saturday night as Israel Adesanya will defend his UFC Middleweight belt against former champ Robert Whittaker in a rematch of their fight at UFC 243, back in October 2019. When they met then, Adesanya, then the interim champion, knocked out Whittaker in the second round to secure the belt. The co-main event is a heavyweight fight featuring Tai Tuivasa and Derrick Lewis. You can catch the main card on Pay Per View, with the preliminary card on ESPN2 and ESPN+ and the early prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass.
Check out the complete card and our UFC betting predictions on the main events.
UFC 271: Adesanya vs Whittaker 2 Preview
Main Card (Pay Per View)
Israel Adesanya vs Robert Whittaker (UFC Middleweight Championship)
Derrick Lewis vs Tai Tuivasa (Heavyweight)
Jared Cannonier vs Derek Brunson (Middleweight)
Kyler Phillips vs Marcelo Rojo (Bantamweight)
Bobby Green vs Nasrat Haqparast (Lightweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN2/ESPN+)
Andrei Arlovski vs Jared Vanderaa (Heavyweight)
Roxanne Modafferi vs Casey O’Neill (Women’s Flyweight)
Alex Perez vs Matt Schnell (Flyweight)
William Knight vs Maxim Grishin (Heavyweight)
Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Leomana Martinez vs Ronnie Lawrence (Bantamweight)
Alexander Hernandez vs REnato Moicano (Lightweight)
Carlos Ulberg vs Fabio Cherant (Light Heavyweight)
A.J. Dobson vs Jacob Malkoun (Middleweight)
Douglas Silva de Andrade vs Sergey Morozov (Bantamweight)
Jeremiah Wells vs Mike Mathetha (Welterweight)
Israel Adesanya (21-1, 10-1 UFC, -280) vs Robert Whittaker (23-5, 14-3 UFC, +225) marks the 2 ½-year point of Adesanya holding the unified title; Adesanya only needed 19 months to go from his UFC debut to holding a title. His background is in kickboxing, but he moved to MMA full time in 2017, and the only weaknesses he showed in his debut involved his wrestling. Rob Wilkinson controlled him initially in his debut, but then Adesanya turned the tables to deliver a finish. By the time Adesanya met Kelvin Gastelum for the interim title, he had the skills to fight his way through both pressure on his feet and attempts at control on the ground. In his first fight with Whittaker, Adesanya faced a striking storm that often lacked discipline and accuracy, finding a hole in the defense and stepping through with the knockout. During his championship run, Adesanya started out by calling out Yoel Romero – and then almost lost when Romero brought his slow style to bear. Adesanya’s lone loss came when he attempted to go up a division and take the light heavyweight title from Jan Blachowicz. He lost on the cards, but at middleweight, he’s still a strong favorite.
Whittaker’s move to middleweight was the right transition for him, as his boxing game emerged, with his power bringing danger to each opponent. He used his striking to climb the ladder and then used improved wrestling to defeat Ronaldo Souza, establishing himself as a contender. He beat Romero for an interim title and then got the undisputed belt when Georges St. Pierre retired. Whittaker faced two different physical health issues before his first fight with Adesanya, and in his recent fights against Cannonier and Gastelum, he remained more disciplined, staying within his own limits and using variety in his approach. Against Adesanya, he would need to stick to low kicks and jabs to accrue points slowly and then use his defense to win on th ecards, but Adesanya is clearly the better of the two at this point.
Final Prediction: Adesanya wins via decision : Bet the Game Today
Derrick Lewis (26-8, 17-6 UFC, -180) vs Tai Tuivasa (13-3, 7-3 UFC, +155) is the latest installment of Lewis’ unusual style, as he loves to sit back calmly, waiting for just the right opening to go off and demolish his opponent. In his fights, long periods of inactivity are common, but this isn’t the worst thing for a heavyweight. Opponents might try to take him to the ground and use wrestling, only to get knocked out. It isn’t that hard to hurt Lewis, but it is extremely hard to finish him, and the punishment that you get trying to finish him will likely finish you first. Lewis lost to Ciryl Gane in August, as Gane has the length to deconstruct Lewis without getting in range of his punches. Lewis came back to demolish Chris Daukaus in a main event, so Tuivasa has a lot of film to look at and wonder if he can get through “The Black Beast.”
Tuivasa started out well in UFC, winning his first three fights, including a finish of Rashad Coulter that was thrilling to watch. He got a main event slot against Junior dos Santos and was ahead on the cards when he got knocked out in the second round, which sent him on a three-fight losing streak. After a year away from the Octagon, he has developed patience and technique, and so while he can make it through a brawl, as he finished Harry Hunsucker and Greg Hardy in under two minutes combined, he can also outwit more skilled technicians, as he showed in wins over Stefan Struve and Augusto Sakai. Tuivasa should be able to do some damage, but not enough damage before Lewis finds the opening.
Final Prediction: Lewis wins via knockout : Bet the Game Today
UFC Betting Odds
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