After a couple of domestic events, the UFC heads international for this weekend. UFC Shanghai comes to you from China with a bantamweight banger on top. Umar Nurmagomedov looks to claw his way back into the title picture when he faces local Song Yadong. There’s also a slew of fighters making their debut for the promotion throughout the card.
In today’s column, we’re looking for the best play on the entire slate of prelim fights for you to exploit. Come check out our best bet for these UFC Shanghai prelims.
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Prelim Pick of the Week: UFC Shanghai
UFC Bantamweight Fight: Long Xiao vs Francesco Nuzzi
Start Time: Saturday (8/29) 3:00am EST (Paramount+)
While he’s riding a two-fight win streak, it’s a great buy-low spot from Long Xiao. Not only is he getting the home game on Saturday, but the losing streak is a little deceptive. He’s coming off a loss to Cody Garbrandt, in which he lost 28-27 across the board thanks to a two-point deduction for a groin kick. Wipe that off and he’s riding a 29-28 decision over a former champion.
In addition to that, I have always thought that Xiao has some sleepy good wrestling. We saw it when he fought a grappler in Chang Ho Lee and scored two takedowns of his own and over six minutes of control time. When you pair that with some devastating striking he can be much more dangerous than his 1-2 UFC record suggests.
I also am looking to fade Francesco Nuzzi here. Nuzzi has some really poor grappling defense as we saw in his fight with Mando Gutierrez. He gave up his back towards the end of the first round and it was over in a blink. Additionally, if Nuzzi is able to get Xiao to throw from range, he’ll be the shorter fighter with less reach.
With all of the ways the local can bring the fight, it should be able to find one to beat Nuzzi.
UFC Shanghai Prelim Pick: Long Xiao ML (-180)
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