UFC 224 is scheduled for this weekend and is set to be a massive one from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil! We take a look at some of the key fights on the card and give our betting tips below.
Amanda Nunes vs Raquel Pennington (Women’s Bantamweight)
The headline fight of the card will see Nunes and Pennington square off for the women’s bantamweight title. Nunes won the title a few fights ago against Miesha Tate and has since had two successful defences against Ronda Rousey and Valentina Shevchenko. Nunes has a 15-4 record in her MMA career and comes into the fight as a strong favourite against Pennington, who will be squaring off for just her 8th fight in the UFC.
Pennington hasn’t fought since November of 2016, where she too defeated Miesha Tate by a unanimous decision. The extra time between fights will have helped Pennington prepare for her biggest challenge to date and the fact that she is friends and former training partners with Nunes will be beneficial to her.
The friendship between the two has taken some of the sting out of the build-up to the fight that we saw in Nunes’ last two title defences. It’s very hard to look past the Brazilian on her home turf here, she is an absolute beast with so many avenues to victory. She has a submission, TKO and decision win in her last three fights and should be way too strong for Pennington here.
TIP: Amanda Nunes to win by TKO/KO - $2.25 at Sportsbet
Ronaldo Souza vs Kelvin Gastelum (Middleweight)
With current middleweight champion and New Zealander Robert Whittaker currently out of action due to injury, the middleweight division is in some sort of limbo as they the remaining contenders fight for the right to be the first to take their shot at Whittaker.
Ronaldo Souza, currently the number three ranked middleweight in the world will start as favourite over American Kelvin Gastelum who is the number six ranked middleweight. Gestelum has won just one of his last three fights when he defeated Michael Bisping last November, before that he had a submission loss to Chris Weidman and a no contest against Vitor Belfort which was originally a win that was overturned for use of marijuana.
Hard to see why Souza is at $1.70 here. I think he is the much better fighter and should have all of the crowd behind him here as he lines up in his home country. The short turn around from his last fight in January could hinder him a bit I think he still comes out on top.
TIP: Ronaldo Souza to win - $1.70 at Sportsbet
