The Ultimate Fighting Championship comes home to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC 216. While the mass shooting at Las Vegas’ Route 91 Harvest Festival continues to weigh heavily on everyone’s mind, hopefully a fun, exciting night of fights can help take our minds off of the senseless tragedy…at least for a couple of hours. Kudos to the UFC for donating $1 million and dedicating UFC 216 to the memories of those lost.
UFC 216 will be remembered for at least two things. It will be the night we crown an interim champion in the lightweight division and possibly setting up Conor McGregor’s next fight. It will also be the night we see history made if Demetrious Johnson gets past Ray Borg and thus breaking the record for title defenses.
The main event is a UFC Interim Championship bout between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee. Ferguson is long overdue for this opportunity as he faces off against the brash, young Kevin Lee. The co-main event features pound for pound great Demetrious Johnson. Ray Borg stands in his way of breaking the record for most title defenses in UFC history.
The main card also includes, Fabricio Werdum vs. Derrick Lewis in a pivotal heavyweight clash, Mara Romero Borella taking on Kalindra Faira in the women’s flyweight division and Beneil Dariush vs. Evan Dunham in a battle of lightweights.
The early prelims will air on Fight Pass starting at 5:30PM CT, with FX taking over at 7PM CT for the prelims. The main card airs on PPV starting at 9PM CT.
Here are the current odds and my predictions for each fight.
Note: The predictions in this column do not necessarily mean that I will be betting them. I have changed my mind in the past and gone the other way after conducting more research. For all of my official bets follow me on Twitter @FightChampBlog. You can also find all of my official MMA bets at betmmatips.com. For more information on my MMA bets go to thefightingchampion.com.
Main Card
Tony Ferguson (23-3) vs. Kevin Lee (16-2) – Lightweight 155 lbs.
Current Odds: Ferguson -230; Lee +180
Pick: Ferguson by submission
Demetrious Johnson (26-2-1) vs. Ray Borg (11-2) – Flyweight 125 lbs.
Current Odds: Johnson -1200; Borg +700
Pick: Johnson by decision
Fabricio Werdum (21-7-1) vs. Derrick Lewis (18-5, 1 NC) – Heavyweight 265 lbs.
Current Odds: Werdum -260; Lewis +210
Pick: Werdum by submission
Mara Romero Borella (11-4, 1 NC) vs. Kalindra Faria (18-5-1) – Flyweight 125 lbs.
Current Odds: Faria -200; Borella +160
Pick: Faria by decision
Beneil Dariush (14-3) vs. Evan Dunham (17-6) – Lightweight 155 lbs.
Current Odds: Dariush -225; Dunham +175
Pick: Dariush by decision
Prelims
Tom Duquesnoy (15-1, 1 NC) vs. Cody Stamann (15-1) – Bantamweight 135 lbs.
Current Odds: Duquesnoy -160, Stamann +130
Pick: Duquesnoy by TKO
Lando Vannata (9-2) vs. Bobby Green (23-8) – Lightweight 155 lbs.
Current Odds: Vannata -200; Green +160
Pick: Vannata by decision
Pearl Gonzalez (6-2) vs. Poliana Botelho (5-1) – Strawweight 115 lbs.
Current Odds: Botelho -165; Gonzalez +135
Pick: Botelho by decision
Matt Schnell (10-4) vs. Marco Beltran (8-6) – Flyweight 125 lbs.
Current Odds: Schnell -115; Beltran -115
Pick: Schnell by TKO
Early Prelims
Walt Harris (10-5) vs. Mark Godbeer (12-3) – Heavyweight 265 lbs.
Current Odds: Harris -335; Godbeer +265
Pick: Harris by TKO
John Moraga (17-6) vs. Magomed Bibulatov (14-0) – Flyweight 125 lbs.
Current Odds: Bibulatov -585; Moraga +410
Pick: Bibulatov by submission
Thales Leites (27-7) vs. Brad Tavares (15-5) – Middleweight 185 lbs.
Current Odds: Tavares -175; Leites +145
Pick: Leites by decision
Enjoy the fights!
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