Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, is the site for this week’s installment of UFC MMA, as UFC Fight Night 179 is set for the early morning hours of October 11. This will allow for North American viewers to watch the action during prime time on Saturday night (October 10). The main event features a bantamweight tilt between Marlon Moraes, onetime WSOF Bantamweight Champion and UFC Bantamweight Championship challenger, and Cory Sandhagen. The co-main event pits Edson Barboza against Makwan Amirkhani in a featherweight event; Amirkhani was the third choice for Barboza’s opponent, after both Jeremy Stephens and Sodiq Yusuff pulled out.
We have the full fight card as well as UFC betting thoughts about the main fights.
UFC Fight Night 179: Moraes vs Sandhagen (October 11)
Main Card (ESPN+)
Marlon Moraes vs Cory Sandhagen (Bantamweight)
Edson Barboza vs Makwan Amirkhani (Featherweight)
Ben Rothwell vs Marcin Tybura (Heavyweight)
Markus Perez vs Dricus duPlessis (Middleweight)
Tom Aspinall vs Alan Baudot(Heavyweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
Youssef Zalal vs IliaTopuria (Featherweight)
Tom Breese vs K.B. Bhullar(Middleweight)
Chris Daukaus vs Rodrigo Nascimento (Heavyweight)
Impa Kasanganay vs Joaquin Buckley (Middleweight)
Ali Al-Qaisi vs Tony Kelley(Bantamweight)
Giga Chikadze vs Omar Morales (Featherweight)
Tracy Cortez vs Stephanie Egger (Women’s Bantamweight)
Bruno Silva vs Tagir Ulanbekov (Flyweight)
Marlon Moraes (23-6-1, +115) vs Cory Sandhagen (12-2,-135) continues an intriguing period in Moraes’ career, as the onetime UFC Bantamweight Championship contender seems to have wandered off into the UFC wilderness. When he joined UFC, he immediately got a fight with Raphael Assuncao to start him on his path to a title fight, but Assuncao slowed the fight down into a exhibitionist and ended up winning via split decision. After that, Mores got his feet under him, beating Johnson on the cards and delivering swift finishes of Aljamain Sterling and Jimmie Rivera. He met Assuncao in a rematch and won convincingly, and he got a title fight against Henry Cejudo. Moraes was ahead on the cards until the third round, when Cejudo decided to run through the damage Moraes was dealing and ended up finishing Moraes. Moraes then beat Jose Aldo in December but is still waiting for another title shot.
Sandhagen made his UFC debut as a last-minute substitute in a fight against Austin Arnett, getting less than a week’s notice for the bout. He has considerable size for the bantamweight division. He brings an aggressive style that can bring rewards but also brings risk. He used distance to win the exchanges in fights against Assuncao and John Lineker in 2019. However, Sterling needed just 88 seconds to finish him in June, as he could match Sandhagen’s grappling skills and his reach, and the fight went to the floor quickly, where Sterling got the submission. Sandhagen now has an opponent where his size advantage is back in play. Moraes has the more impressive resume, but he needs to finish the fighting the early going. Otherwise, Sandhagen might burst through Moraes’ offense and deliver a finish. I see Moraes using an early fit of offense to take advantage of Sandhagen’s lack of defense to win.
Xbet Prediction:
Moraes wins via stoppage | Bet on the Fight Now!
Edson Barboza (20-9, -260) vs Makwan Amirkhani (16-4,+220) is a must-win for Barboza. He remains a venerated UFC fighter, but he has dropped five of his last six fights. When he can get his kicking game going, he is something to see. However, the way to beat Barboza has become somewhat simple — make him move backwards. If he gets set, he can use leg kicks to cut down his opponents or deliver a finish. When he has to move backwards, though, he loses that advantage. That strategy helped Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje and Kevin Lee all beat Barboza. He made his featherweight in May against Dan Ige — and lost again on the cards.
Amirkhani came into UFC in 2015, using a flying knee to open his fight against Andy Ogle that brought a close to the fight in only eight seconds. He is aggressive on the ground and is an expert at delivering submissions. He has worked on his striking, but his ability remains an open question, so he is a grappler first. Between the first and third rounds, you can see a clear slowdown in his game as he runs out of gas trying to get things to the ground. Barboza should be able to overcome attempts to take the fight to the floor and use his feet to deliver pain.
Xbet Prediction:
Barboza wins via knockout | Bet on the Fight Now!
UFC Betting Odds
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