The UFC Apex Center in Las Vegas, Nevada once again hosts this weekend’s fight night card which is headlined by two explosive Bantamweights, Rob Font and Marlon Vera.
In the co-main UFC veteran Andre Arlovski looks to make it four wins on the bounce when he meets Jake Collier and Japan’s young gun Tatsuro Taira makes his UFC debut against Carlos Candelario. We take a look at my three best UFC bets on the card below.
Ben Talintyre provides weekly betting tips for the UFC Fight Night events as well as monster previews for the pay-pew-view events whenever they roll around. Be sure to check out his regular content at our UFC Tips page.
UFC Fight Night Betting Tips
Rob Font vs Marlon Vera
Rob Font meets Marlon Vera off the back of a loss to former champion Jose Aldo in December last year. Font is a devastating striker who has improved his wrestling in recent years but finds himself just short of falling into the category of the Bantamweight elite.
He meets Marlon Vera in the main event, who while has always been exciting to watch, I honestly don’t rate that highly. Vera has won two straight with his last loss also coming at the hands of Jose Aldo.
I will be a bit blunt here. Marlon Vera is in this spot because of his win by injury against Sean O’Malley. Vera is an atypical top 10 fighter but is miles off being a title challenger. He has decent striking and some slick submission skills but doesn’t excel really anywhere.
This will likely be contested on the feet and Vera will need a finish in the opening rounds if he has any chance of winning this fight. Font has only lost to the UFC elite, Pedro Munhoz, Raphael Assuncao and Jose Aldo and this should be relatively easy work for him.
The odds here are silly. Font is more technical and a better minute winner. I have Font marked a $1.20 favourite so you bet I am biting your hand off at $1.80 big time!!!
Andre Arlovski vs Jake Collier
Andre Arlovski may be well and truly past his prime but he does an exceptional job of avoiding getting knocked out and pot shotting his way to victory.
Jake Collier isn’t good, he just isn’t. He has not beaten anyone of note and was absolutely demolished by the one quality opponent he faced, Tom Aspinall in 45 seconds. Collier secured a round 1 submission last time out over Chase Sherman, but Sherman was the biggest underdog I have ever seen against Alexandr Romanov, so that shows where he is at.
While Arlovski may be ancient and if you land on his chin it won’t take much but he is experienced, moves well and Collier isn’t U.FC calibre. In short back the UFC veteran to register another win.
Andre Arlovski to win
$1.73
Tatsuro Taira vs Carlos Candelario
I don’t have an overly big opinion of Carlos Candelario but until losing a split decision in his Contender Series bout he was 8-0 as a pro and 4-0 as an amateur and showed a well-rounded skillset.
He meets rising Japanese star Tatsuro Taira here and Taira has faced absolutely nobody of note and I mean nobody. Going through Taira’s tape I was very underwhelmed considering he is a massive favourite. Taira has a good rear naked choke but very underdeveloped wrestling so I question if he will be able to get this to the mat on his own terms and this is also a giant step up in competition.
I rate this fight at close to coin flip odds. While I am not declaring Candelario, I believe we are getting great odds to back him to cause the upset win. Back the American to stop the Japanese rising star.
Carlos Candelario to win
$3.25
