UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets

UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets
UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets

The octagon takes a rare trip outside the UFC Apex for a Fight Night event this weekend. UFC on ESPN: Vera vs. Sandhagen (aka UFC San Antonio) goes down – you guessed it – from San Antonio this Saturday night. It’s a solid fight card, headlined by a fight between two bantamweights knocking on the championship door. Here are my UFC San Antonio best bets and predictions.

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UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets

Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen – Fight Goes To Decision (-125)

UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets
UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets

The main event between Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera and Cory Sandhagen should be fireworks. Both guys are violent, and both guys are finishers, with 26 combined finishes between them. Yet, despite this, I’m betting that this fight goes the distance. While both guys are finishing machines – which is especially impressive for a lighter weight class – on the flipside, neither gets finished themselves.

Sandhagen has been stopped once (by current champ Aljamain Sterling) in 19 professional MMA fights; Vera has never been finished in 28 pro-MMA fights. So this one should be a 25-minute, Fight-of-the-Night-winning war.

Holly Holm (-255) vs. Yana Santos

UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets
UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets

At the advanced age of 41, with her last win coming in October of 2020, you’d think Holly Holm would be the fighter I would be fading in Saturday’s co-main event. But, instead, it’s her opponent, Yana Santos (nee Kunitskaya). Santos is only 33, but she has been out of the cage since July 2021 after giving birth to her second child. Holm is a tough matchup to make her comeback against. Holm hasn’t finished a fight since 2017, so if you want to get fancy, take her via decision (-109) here.

Manel Kape (-175) vs. Alex Perez

UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets
UFC San Antonio Predictions & Best Bets

I think this is a perfect line for this flyweight fight. Manel Kape, after stumbling out of the block to start off his UFC career, has found his footing and is flashing the talent and potential everyone saw in him. He’s won three straight fights, two of them via (T)KO. This week’s opponent, former title challenger Alex Perez, hasn’t won a fight since June 2020 and has been submitted in two straight. If you want to spice it up, take Kape inside the distance (+110).

Chidi Njokuani (-160) vs. Albert Duraev

Albert Duraev has spent two-thirds of this time in the UFC octagon striking from distance, despite being outstruck in the process. This will be a lousy game plan against a kickboxer like Chidi Njokuani. All four of Duraev’s pro losses have also come via strikes. I see ‘Chidi Bang Bang’ piecing Duraev up on the feet and winning via (T)KO (+125).

Vinicius Salvador (-120) vs. Victor Altamirano

I’ll take the debuting Vinicius Salvador in a battle of two flyweights. He’s won four straight fights – all via (T)KO – and hasn’t lost in almost four years. Victor Altamirano will eat too many strikes from Salvador on Saturday for this one to go his way. Feel free to sprinkle on Salvador via (T)KO (+160).

Tamires Vidal (+105) vs. Hailey Cowan

Hailey Cowan didn’t really impress me on Dana White’s Contender Series; then she had to pull out of her UFC debut earlier this month after a last-minute ovarian cyst rupture (ouch). Tamires Vidal is a finisher, and I like her resume better than Cowan. Give me the dog money to open the festivities on Saturday.

 

If you’d like even more information on UFC San Antonio, be sure to check out the MMA Gambling Podcast. The guys are dropping weekly episodes to make you the smartest guy at the bar. 

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