UFC Raleigh Picks: Odds, Preview, Underdog and LOCK

Conor McGregor made a successful return to the octagon last weekend in Las Vegas, and UFC 246 was also a successful return of this column, as both of my recommended picks came through with WINs.

If you had followed all my advice since I started this column last year, you’d have a return on investment of 3% at this point. Not too shabby, but we can do better.

The UFC machine rolls on this week with a return to Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday, which will host UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs dos Santos. The main event pits two heavyweights in Curtis Blaydes and former UFC champ Junior dos Santos. The oddsmakers currently strongly favor the wrestler Blaydes, pegging him as a -245 favorite to JDS’s +205.

In my eyes, this is probably a solid line, so we’ll skip betting on it. The co-main sees a couple of welterweights square off, as former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos takes on former TUF winner Michael Chiesa. RDA is a very healthy -265 favorite to Chiesa’s +205.

Who am I recommending betting on? For the first time ever in this space, there are no male fighter recommendations – ladies only.

Odds via MyBookie

Hannah Cifers (+140) vs Angela Hill

We start things off with an underdog pick, so we can win some good money. It is a little surprising to see Hannah Cifers at +140 in this one. After dropping her octagon debut to uber-prospect Maycee Barber, she has reeled off two-straight wins.

Plus, her opponent in this one, Angela Hill, is taking this fight on short notice (which Hill seems to do with all of her fights). Hill also has been quite inconsistent, alternating wins and losses (her last fight was a win, so…).

Cifers penchant for getting hit more than she dishes out is a concern, but the loss to Barber is the only time she’s been stopped in her career, and Hill is not exactly a knockout artist.

UNDERDOG PICK: We’ll take the fighter on the roll, who has had time to have a full camp, plus we’ll get plus-money for it.

Sara McMann (-150) vs Lina Lansberg

Here’s another pick that might seem strange on the surface. Sara McMann hasn’t entered the cage in almost two years — after taking time off to have a baby, then getting injured. Prior to that, she had dropped her last two fights, so it’s been three years since she’s had her hand raised in victory.

Meanwhile, her opponent on Saturday, Lina Lansberg, has won two-straight and three out of four. However, the matchup here is the key! Lansberg got taken down five times by a striker, Yana Kunitskaya, in the past.

McMann is no Kunitskaya – she’s an Olympic silver medalist wrestler. And she’s never been knocked out before (lost via a body kick TKO to Ronda Rousey), so the striker Lansberg should have trouble taking her out.

STONE COLD LOCK: Look for McMann to take Lansberg down early and often and grind out her first win as a mommy.