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UFC Fight Night 149 Odds, Predictions & Picks

Written by on April 19, 2019

UFC News and Betting Previews| Xbet.ag
UFC heads to Russia this coming weekend for Fight Night 149, set for Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg. The main event was supposed to be a heavyweight tilt between Alistair Overeem, former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, and Alexander Volkov, former Bellator Heavyweight Champion and the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion. Volkov had to withdraw because of health issues, though, and Alexey Oleinik has stepped in to replace him. The co-main event is a lightweight bout between Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan. We have the full card as well as UFC sports betting thoughts about several of the tilts on tap.

UFC Fight Night 149 Odds, Predictions & Picks

Main Card (ESPN+)

  • Alistair Overeem vs Alexey Oleinik (Heavyweight)
  • Islam Makhachev vs Arman Tsarukyan (Lightweight)
  • Sergei Pavlovich vs Marcelo Golm (Heavyweight)
  • Ivan Shtyrkov vs Devin Clark (Light heavyweight)
  • Roxanne Modafferi vs Antonina Shevchenko (Women’s Flyweight)
  • Krzysztof Jotko vs Alen Amedovski (Middleweight)

Preliminary Card (ESPN+)

  • Movsar Evloev vs Seung Woo Choi (Featherweight)
  • Sultan Aliev vs Keita Nakamura (Welterweight)
  • Alexander Yakovlev vs Alex da Silva Coelho (Lightweight)
  • Marcin Tybura vs Shamil Abdurakhimov (Heavyweight)
  • Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs Michal Oleksiejczuk (Light heavyweight)
  • Magomed Mustafaev vs Rafael Fiziev (Lightweight)

Alistair Overeem (44-17) vs Alexey Oleinik (57-11-1)

This fight marks the return of the “Boa Constrictor” thanks to the late scratch. Oleinik is an unusual fighter, as he brings power hooks when he is on his feet and then uses unusual choke methods when the fight goes to the ground, and those methods have been largely successful even when he is fighting against superior talent. The only UFC opponents who have defeated Oleinik are Daniel Omielanczuk, when Oleinik was returning from knee surgery, and Curtis Blaydes, who won when the fight went to the ground. The fact that Oleinik was able to submit Mark Hunt in the first round shows his credibility in the division. Overeem has seen his power dwindle as a result of a more rigorous drug testing regimen, but to his credit, he changed his style so now he is more of a kickboxer/wrestler who waits for the opponent to make a mistake and give him an opening. He was able to finish Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski before losing to Stipe Miocic in a title shot. He came back to beat Mark Hunt and Fabricio Werdum, but then Francis Ngannou delivered a knockout that still plays on highlight videos, and then Curtis Blaydes used elbows to stop him in the third round. He did, however, beat newcomer Sergei Pavlovich in November. I’m going with the upset pick here, simply because Oleinik has such a unique game and has made it work. UFC Fight Night 149 Prediction: Oleinik wins via stoppage

Islam Makhachev (16-1) vs Arman Tsarukyan (13-1)

will feature one of the better fighters to come out of the Caucasus in Makhachev. He uses much of the same fighting style as Khabib Nurmagedov, the lightweight champ, although Makhachev’s grappling game is not quite as dangerous. He finished Kajan Johnson with an armbar in his last bout, and he also stopped Gleison Tibau in the fight before that. He did get drawn into that brawl that brought UFC 229 to a halt, but the “consequence” ended up being a co-main event assignment. Tsarukyan, just 22 years old, has beaten several solid fighters, including Felipe Olivieri and Junior Assuncao, who have a large body of work in UFC. He can deliver knockouts in impressive fashion — even though his striking is not that much better than he is a wrestler. It is possible to catch Makhachev with a big bomb, as we saw when he took a knockout loss against Adriano Martins. Right now, though, Makhachev has the skill to match Tsarukyan with each punch and takedown attempt. If the fight stays up, Tsarukyan could pick up some points, but Makhachev should take things to the ground and win. UFC Fight Night 149 Prediction: Makhachev wins via decision
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