UFC 229 Betting Preview

UFC 229 is set for Saturday night from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main event will pit Khabib Nurmagomedov against Conor McGregor in what will be one of the more widely watched UFC bouts in recent memory. The rest of the main card features Tony Ferguson and Anthony Pettis, Ovince Saint Preux and Dominick Reyes, Derrick Lewis and Alexander Volkov, finishing with Michelle Waterson and Felice Herrig. The early cards feature seven combined matches as well after the cancellation of Sean O’Malley’s tangle with Jose Quinonez. We have the entire card for you below, as well as MMA betting suggestions on the main event as well as some of the other fights.

UFC 229 Betting Preview

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— UFC (@ufc) October 3, 2018

Main Card (10:00pm ET, Pay Per View)

• Khabib Nurmagomedov (26-0) vs Conor McGregor (21-3)
• Tony Ferguson (25-3) vs Anthony Pettis (21-7)
• Ovince Saint Preux (22-11) vs Dominick Reyes (9-0)
• Derrick Lewis (20-5, 1 NC) vs Alexander Volkov (29-6)
• Michelle Waterson (15-6) vs Felice Herrig (14-7)

Preliminary Card (8:00pm ET, FS1)

• Sergio Pettis (17-3) vs Jussia Formiga (21-5)
• Vicente Luque (13-6-1) vs Jalin Turner (6-3)
• Aspen Ladd (6-0) vs Tonya Evinger (19-6, 1 NC)
• Scott Holtzman (11-2) vs Alan Patrick (15-1)

Early Preliminary Card (8:00pm ET on UFC Fight Pass)

• Lina Lansberg (8-3) vs Yana Kunitskaya (10-4, 1 NC)
• Gray Maynard (14-7-1, 1 NC) vs Nik Lentz (30-9-2, 1 NC)
• Ryan LaFlare (13-2) vs Tony Martin (12-4)

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor is the headline event and is Khabib’s third fight since 2017. He last fought in April, taking down Al Iaquinta. He averages 4.34 significant strikes per minute with a 48.7 percent accuracy rating. In his decision win over Iaquinta, he landed 172 strikes and delivered six takedowns. He moves toward the ground repeatedly and is seen as the sport’s premiere wrestler. McGregor has won 86 percent of his 21 victories by knockout, and he has won 10 of his last 11 bouts, with his last win coming against Eddie Alvarez in November 2016. His significant strike average is 5.82 per minute, with a 47.6 accuracy rating. He is one of the toughest fighters in all of sport, and his striking game helps him beat just about everyone who goes toe to toe, but he has been out of the sport for a while…and he can’t grapple like Khabib can. UFC 229 Betting Prediction: Khabib wins via submission Lina Lansberg vs Yana Kunitskaya is a women’s bantamweight bout between two fighters who both had their UFC debut against Cyborg — and both were taken down by MMA’s most fearsome female. Lansberg is called the Elbow Queen because of her ability to bring submissions. However, she has a difficult time standing and fighting because of her comparative lack of reach, and longer fights tend to expose her subar cardio. However, she is a tenacious fighter and hangs on long after others would have stopped. Kunitskaya will win if she can keep Lansberg outside, because she has the reach advantage and the boxing skills to roll to a decision. Because of her advantage in cardio — and in her upward trajectory in the promotion — Kunitskaya is the pick here. UFC 229 Betting Prediction: Kunitskaya wins by decision Gray Maynard vs Nik Lentz is a men’s lightweight bout giving us a talented submitter in Lentz, who has developed striking power and also has a guillotine choke move that has brought many opponents to defeat. Lentz is in his 13th year of fighting, so he’s starting to slow down a bit. However, in exchange for speed, he has developed a sense of craftiness in the ring. He has the sort of chin that can absorb damage, which is a major advantage. Maynard has lost some fights via knockout recently, and that has motivated him to move his game toward the ground, using his All-American wrestling background. He hasn’t delivered a knockout in eleven years, moving toward the ground, but that hasn’t helped him a whole lot. UFC 229 Betting Prediction: Lentz wins via knockout