UFC Shanghai keeps the UFC on the road this weekend. In the wee hours of the morning, fighters will throw down in China. In the main event, Johnny Walker will look to fend off the up and coming prospect, Zhang Mingyang.
There’s plenty of other fights to like on this card, so we’ll hit that fight and dig through the rest of the card to give you our UFC Shanghai best bets. Come check out these UFC Shanghai picks for Saturday.
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UFC Shanghai: Walker vs Zhang – Predictions & Best Bets
Uran Satybaldiev ML (-130) vs. Diyar Nurgozhay
One of my favorite UFC Shanghai picks is the moneyline in the opening fight. Uran Satybaldiev looked amazing in a loss in his first fight. He went up a weight class against Martin Buday, who went 7-1 in the UFC, and he hung right with him. Diyar Nurgozhay did the opposite in his debut. He faced Brendson Ribeiro and was badly outstruck before shooting a takedown. On the mat, his kickboxer opponent swept and submitted him. With that kind of showing, he has little chance against Satybaldiev.
Gauge Young ML (-115) vs. Maheshate
Gauge Young has been a guy who has been critically underrated. He has lost two of his last three – once on Dana White’s Contender Series and once in his UFC debut. The losses were to high quality opponents though in Evan Elder on short notice and Quillan Salkilld. Now he brings his KO power to a fight against Maheshate, who has lost three of his last four and was recently KOed against Viacheslav Borshchev. Young should be able to find that button as well.
Zhang Mingyang – Wins via (T)KO in Round 1 (-105)
The moneyline on the favorite in the main event is not all that appetizing. However, we can make it quite a bit better if we add the KO and the round props to it. Johnny Walker is a guy who blocks punches with his face for a living. While that’s worked from time to time, Zhang Mingyang is a guy you can’t take a lot of punches from. I expect him to dish out a big blow early here.
Michel Pereira ML (-260) vs. Kyle Daukaus
While I like Kyle Daukaus, there is a reason he was released by the UFC in the first place. Many of his losses early in his UFC career came because he was unable to get the fight to the ground to get the best part of his game going. Michel Pereira has been decent at fighting off takedowns – with the exception of his issues against Anthony Hernandez. On the feet this will be one-sided, so if he can indeed defend those shots, this should be a beatdown.
Lone’er Kavanagh – Wins via Decision (-110)
Lone’er Kavanagh is an absolute beast on the feet. Since he debuted on Dana White’s Contender Series, he’s been a force. He’s much faster than the average flyweight and packs much more power. Charles Johnson has always been a game opponent. While I don’t think that will be enough for him to overcome the skills of Kavanagh, I do think it will get us to the judges scorecards.
Weston Wilson – Wins via Submission (+1500)
If you’ve ever followed this column before, you know that I always end these things with a bomb. My favorite of the week is Weston Wilson’s submission line. Wilson got a bad rap by losing fights to both Jean Silva and Joanderson Brito. Those fights have aged well and he showed in his last fight that his ground game is legit when he can get it going. Yizha struggled on the mat in his last fight and I think there’s a chance that Wilson exploits that. It’s definitely worth a 15-to-1 shot to find out.
If you’d like even more UFC Shanghai: Walker vs Zhang bets, be sure to check out the MMA Gambling Podcast. The guys are dropping weekly episodes to make you the smartest guy at the bar.
