UFC Best Bets for UFC 267

UFC Best Bets for UFC 267
Fri 29th October 2021

Coming off a massive win over Israel Adesanya, Jan Blachowicz puts his Light Heavyweight Title on the line at UFC 267 and we have our UFC Best Bets for the three best fights on the card. He will face Glover Teixeira for the belt, in his second title defense, and we have found the winner for you. 

It doesn’t stop there as the rest of the UFC 267 card is stacked, and we have found some value in the rest of our card. Read on below to find out UFC Best Bets!

Peter Yan vs Cory Sandhagen (Bantamweight Interim Title)

This will be a fight between two of the bantamweight divisions’ youngest, most feared strikers. As Peter “No Mercy” Yan takes on Cory “The Sandman” Sandhagen Friday night at UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi. Both of these fighters have rightfully earned their spot in this interim title fight, although Yan is also here because of controversy in his last fight. 

Standing at 5 foot 7 inches tall and weighing 135 pounds, the 28 year old Russian holds an overall record of 15-2 in MMA and up until his disqualification loss at UFC 259, he was 7-0 in the UFC. During his UFC career four of his wins have come by knockout while the other three have come by unanimous decision. He quickly burst onto the scene and established himself as a dominant fighter in the 126-135 pound division. Following Henry Cejudos’ shocking retirement announcement in May, Yan won the Bantamweight Championship after a devastating knockout of Jose Aldo at UFC 251, in July last year.

 It was the title that fans expected him to hang onto for a long time and it looked like that would happen until he was disqualified for an illegal knee to a downed Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259 in Las Vegas back in March of this year. Depending on who you ask, Peter Yan is the rightful champion in the 126-135 pound weight class. But others will tell you he was rightfully stripped of his title following his usage of an illegal knee in his last fight against Aljamain Sterling. He now starts his chase of redemption and re-capturing the bantamweight championship as he will fire an interim title fight against Cory Sandhagen on UFC’s Fight Island.

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As for the previously mentioned Cory Sandhagen, he stands at 5 foot 11 inches tall and weighs 135 pounds. Overall, his MMA record is 14-3 and his record in the UFC stands at 7-2. Four of those wins came by knockout, two by decision and one by an arm-bar submission. One of his losses, to the current UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, he was beaten by rear naked choke. In his other loss he was beaten by a judge’s decision, by former UFC Bantamweight Champion T.J. Dillashaw. While some fans say he hasn’t earned it, Sandhagan is absolutely ready and deserving of this fight as he holds wins against UFC legends like John Lineker and Frankie Edgar.

This could very well be the fight of the night, as both of these fighters are coming off losses in their last fights and will have something to prove. We could also very well be one of the most evenly matched UFC fights we’ve seen in recent memory. It is a perfect complement to the main event for the Light Heavyweight title between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira. As a fan I’d recommend that you just sit back and enjoy the action but as someone who is going to bet on the fight as well, my money will be on the person who I believe is still the rightful UFC Bantamweight Champion, Peter Yan. However, I do not think Yan wins this one by knockout, as I think he will win by judges decision after a hard fought, hard hitting battle.

UFC Prediction: Peter Yan (-255)
Method Of Victory: Peter Yan by points (+155)

Alexander Volkov vs Marcin Tybura (Heavyweight)

In the lone heavyweight fight of the evening, Alexander Volkov and Marcin Tybura have the potential to put on an absolute classic. This will be a fight between two heavy hitters who both come in around the 250 pound mark and have reaches of around 80 inches apiece. It’ll also be a battle between fighters of countries from The European eastern bloc as Alexander Volkov hails from Russia and Marcin Tybura from Poland. It’ll also be a contrast of styles as one prefers to take the fight on the ground and the other prefers to keep upright and stand and bang.

Just days after turning 33, Alexander Volkov is looking as dangerous as ever. The six foot seven inches tall, 265 pound Russian will look to get another marquee win in his UFC career. Overall in MMA, through 42 fights, Volkov is 33-9. With an impressive 22 of those victories coming by knockout, with three more by Submission and an additional nine by judges decision. As for his nine losses, only four have ended before a full fight, two of those by knockout and two more by submission. His five losses by judges decision proves that he has the stamina and defensive abilities to take any fight the distance no matter the opponent or the situation.

He possesses a black belt in Tsu Shin Gen, a brown belt in karate, and another brown belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu. Before coming over to the UFC, Volkov was a mainstay in Bellator, winning the heavyweight tournament final and the Bellator heavyweight championship at one point. Since making the jump to the UFC, he has had 10 fights and possesses a 7-3 record with losses to Derek Lewis, Curtis Blaydes and the interim UFC heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane.

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Only a couple weeks shy of his 36 birthday, the Polish powerhouse has been active in Mixed Martial Arts since 2011. Standing at 6‘3“ and weighing 251 pounds with a 78 inch reach, Tybura has had a total of 28 fights in his professional career. Much like his opponent, he has a belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, however he possesses a black belt. Much like his opponent, Tybura was also a mainstay in M1 over in Russia before jumping to the UFC. His overall MMA record through 28 fights is 22 wins and six losses. As for the UFC, his overall record is 9-5 from 14 fights. He is a fighter that can win in a variety of ways as nine have come by knockout, six have come by submission and seven by judges decision.

This is promised to be the hardest hitting fight of the evening as these two heavyweight power houses will square off to further establish themselves within the division and inch closer to a title shot they’ve been chasing for years. I am giving the edge to Volkov in this fight as his experience and ability to take the fight to the ground and control his opponent will allow him to prevail. With both fighters’ ability to take damage and limit the damage brought against them, I believe this fight will last the distance and go to a decision, with the edge on the scorecard again going to Alexander Volkov by a slight margin.

UFC Prediction: Alexander Volkov (-290)
Method Of Victory: Alexander Volkov by Points (+200)

Jan Blachowicz (C) v Glover Teixeira (Light Heavyweight Title)

This one is sure to be the most anticipated fight on the card. It is the only true title belt on the entire UFC 267 card which is a disappointment. However we will find out just how good the light heavyweight division can, and will, be without Jon Jones, as he is likely to fight in the heavyweight division for the foreseeable future. Only time will tell if the division can thrive without him or will miss him.

The current UFC light heavyweight champion is Jan Blachowicz, the 38-year-old from Poland stands at 6 feet and 2 inches tall and weighs in at 205 pounds. He holds an overall Mixed Martial Arts record of 28 wins and 8 losses. Over the course of his 7 year UFC career his record is 11-5. This will be his second title defense since winning the vacated belt by virtue of a knockout victory over Dominick Reyes back at UFC 253 in September of 2020. He won his arguably toughest fight to date against Israel Adesanya at UFC 259 in March by unanimous decision, and with that win defended his title for the first time. Throughout his Mixed Martial Arts career he has racked up his 28 wins in three different ways almost equally; he is not a fighter that  will only knock you out or only submit you. Eight of his wins came by knockout, Nine by submission and 11 by judges decision, proving that he is not easy to finish off during fights.

As for his opponent, Glover Teixeira, he is also standing at 6 feet two inches weighing 205 pounds. He is a 19 year veteran of Mixed Martial Arts as well as holding a fifth-degree black belt in Kajukenbo and a second-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu. It will be no easy task for him to beat Blachowicz, but he is also no stranger to fighting for championships in the UFC. Although it’s been a while since his last Title Fight coming over 7.5 years ago, he fought for one, and lost by decision to Jon Jones in April 2014. Overall in his storied Mixed Martial Arts career he holds an overall record of 32-7. 18 of those wins come by knockout while 9 come by submission and 5 by judges decision.

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As for this fight, while Blachowicz is certainly not easy to beat by knockout or submission, I think that Glover Teixeira is the guy to get the job done. The light heavyweight title scene will have to wait to see another champion as dominant as Jon Jones was throughout his career.

UFC Prediction: Glover Teixeira (+270)
Method Of Victory: Glover Teixeira by Submission (+750)

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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of Fanduel.

Tony has 2 major passions in life, one of them being sports and the other being gambling on them. In particular the MLB, NCAA and NFL. Following both sports from the age of 10, he is now 23 and loves the games more than ever. He is always in a mood to converse or write about multiple sports and proving picks on who he thinks will cover spreads and provide information for all of our readers.