On Saturday, February 12th, UFC 271 provides an entertaining card that features a middleweight title fight, a hometown hero, and two middleweight contenders looking for their opportunity to fight for the championship belt. If you are interested in placing bets on this card, then make sure you take a look at our best bets.
Read on below to find out UFC best bets for this weekend’s UFC 271!
Israel Adesanya vs Robert Whittaker (Middleweight Title)
Saturday night’s main card title fight is between UFC Middleweight champion Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya and Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker. Whittaker will be fighting to regain the title after he had two previous bouts.
In July of 2017, he defeated Yoel Romero to win the interim title, then once Georges St-Pierre went down with ulcerative colitis, Whittaker was promoted to undisputed champion, a reign he held onto for 660 days before he lost to current champion Adesanya. Now the New Zealand-born Australian will hope to get back what he’s been without for nearly two years in the main event.
Final face-off before the rematch between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker 👀
Stream #UFC271 tomorrow night on @ESPNPlus 🔜 https://t.co/yYRt4qupV2 pic.twitter.com/8g8B18dk7j
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 11, 2022
It won’t be easy, as Adesanya has been a complete beast in the cage. He’s gone 21-1 in his professional career with his only loss being about a year ago when he fell short of trying to be a double-champion in his fight for the light heavyweight championship against Jan Blachowichz. Before that fight, Adesanya was 20-0, and the fact that he suffered his first loss in a match where he went up a class bodes well for him in this Saturday matchup.
Whittaker’s loss to Adesanya was his first in nine matches, but he put it behind him, winning his last three by unanimous decision to get him back to a title match. As inspiring as Whittaker’s road back to the Middleweight Championships has been, Adesanya is dominant.
Considering his only loss was in a class above his own, that should be more than enough proof that this guy has the middleweight on lockdown for right now. When they last met up for the Middleweight belt back in 2019, Adesanya knocked out Whittaker in two rounds. Unfortunately, for Whittaker, I don’t expect this one to be much different.
UFC Best Bet: Israel Adesanya (-290)
Method of Victory: By Knockout (+195)
Derek Lewis vs Tai Tuivasa (Heavyweight)
You never really know what you’re going to get when Derek Lewis is in the octagon. While the 37-year old fight from Houston (also the location of UFC 271) holds a UFC record with 13 knockouts, he’s also lost three of his last eight, including consecutive losses to Daniel Cormier and Junior Dos Santos in 2018-19, where he didn’t even make it two rounds before submitting and getting knocked out respectively.
After those disappointing bouts, Lewis won four straight fights, but when it came down to a fight against Ciryl Gane for the interim Heavyweight Championship back in August, Lewis was on the opposing end of a TKO courtesy of Gane. Lewis bounced back in December against Chris Daukaus and he’ll look to keep his win streak going Saturday against Tai “Bam Bam” Tuivasa.
Tai Tuivasa and Derrick Lewis need to have their own TV show 😂
Nothing but respect and laughs ahead of their heavyweight showdown at #UFC271 pic.twitter.com/yJF3NKH7IT
— ESPN Australia & NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) February 11, 2022
Tuivasa has been a bit all over the place as well: the Australian fighter started his career by going 9-0, but then he fell into a slump, losing three straight fights between December 2018 and October 2019. Luckily, Tuivasa has fought back, winning his last four fights, with the most recent two earning him a “Performance of the Night” accolade. With a win against the hard-hitting Lewis, Tuivasa could get into the title picture.
Both fighters are sluggers, so what it comes down to is who has the better all-around fight game. Tuivasa has zero takedowns during his time in the UFC, and while Lewis isn’t much better in that realm, he does have a bit more experience implementing them. He will also be in front of his home crowd, so you better believe he’ll ride that energy.
UFC Best Bet: Derek Lewis (-188)
Method of Victory: By Points (+650)
Jared Cannonier vs Derek Brunson (Middleweight)
Ever since the start of 2019, Derek Brunson has been a man possessed. After a catastrophic 2018 where he was TKO’d in round one in both fights, Brunson was able to leave that year in the past and set his sights to more dominant days.
Since the TKO loss to Israel Adesanya in 2018, Brunson has won five straight fights, propelling him to #4 in the Middleweight standings. He has his eyes set on the Middleweight crown, but first, he must get past Jared “The Killa Gorilla” Cannonier, who is ranked at #3.
“I BEAT UP DOMESTIC ABUSERS”@DerekBrunson‘s media day t-shirt had a clear message.#UFC271 | Full video: https://t.co/78nAN3IaZg pic.twitter.com/6Qc9nnoerk
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) February 9, 2022
At 14-5, Cannonier has been a bit inconsistent in his fighting. After starting his career 7-0, “The Killa Gorilla” has been streaky, never winning more than three matches in a row. But in his last fight against Kelvin Gastelum, Connonier grabbed a big victory by decision. His prior win streak of three matches were all won by TKO, so you better believe that Jared will be going full force.
That being said, Cannonier isn’t much of a takedown guy, if he’s improved that aspect of his game, then he’ll have a real chance, but based on skill set, Brunson should be able to use his more diverse range of talents to take Cannonier out and look ahead to a rematch with Adesanya or Robert Whittaker.
UFC Best Bet: Derek Brunson (+144)
Method of Victory: By Points (+280)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of Fanduel.
