UFC Best Bets For UFC 284

Read on below to find out UFC Best Bets for this weekend’s UFC 284!

Islam Makhachev © vs Alexander Volkanovski © – Lightweight Title Fight 

This is perhaps one of the most anticipated fights of the entire year and perhaps one of the most anticipated UFC fights ever. As two of the most feared fighters in the entire company face off for the lightweight championship here at UFC 284 on Saturday. This is going to be the hardest flight of the evening to predict by far no matter the outcome, fans are certainly going to be sent home happy. Islam Makhachev comes into this fight as the current Lightweight champion. Meanwhile his opponent Alexander Volkanovski is the current UFC Featherweight champion. 

Both of these fighters come into this fight with hardly any scratches on their career record. As Islam comes into this one with a record of 23-1 in 24 career professional fights. Meanwhile Alexander Volkanovski comes into this fight with a record of 25-1 in 26 career professional fights. This one could go either way, but Volkanovski has the advantage of his title, technically not being on the line of this fight either. I expect this fight to go the distance as these two elite fighters trade strikes throughout 25 minutes. However, when the decision comes in, I have Alexander Volkanovski winning and becoming a two division champion.

Yair Rodriguez vs Josh Emmett – Featherweight Title Fight 

Yair Rodriguez comes into this fight with a career record of 15-3 and one no contest in eighteen career professional fights. He is 30 years old and stands at five feet nine inches tall and weighs in at 145 pounds with a 71 inch reach. Meanwhile, his opponent Josh Emmett comes into this fight with a career record of 18-2 in twenty career professional fights. He is 37 years old and stands at five feet five inches tall and weighs in at 145 pounds with a 70 inch reach. On paper the younger and taller Rodriguez has the advantage. 

Truthfully, I don’t expect this fight to be close and I don’t expect to go the distance either. Rodriguez has a huge advantage when it comes to age and a huge height advantage as well in this fight against Josh Emmett. I expect that youth and height advantage to work out in his favor, as I expect Rodriguez to pick up a knockout victory about midway through the fight, if not sooner.  Five of his 14 victories in the UFC have come by knockout and I expect him to grab knockout victory number six in this one and become the Interim UFC Featherweight champion. 

Justin Tafa vs Parker Porter – Heavyweight

This one should be a good one as these two big heavyweights meet in the octagon. Justin Tafa is still relatively young and considered a rookie in the mixed martial arts scene, as he has only had eight career professional fights up until this point. The former rugby player turned fighter will actually be making his sixth appearance in the UFC but this will be his first fight in over a year and a half. His last fight he picked up a knockout victory via headkick. Now he will be looking to string a couple wins together for the first time in his UFC career. He is 29 years old and stands at six feet tall, he is weighing in at 264 pounds. He gives up a 1 inch reach disadvantage in this fight as well.

Parker Porter is the much more experienced of the two fighters as he has 20 career fights under his belt. He has 13 victories in those 20 fights and seven losses to his name. He also stands at 6 feet tall and has previously mentioned has a 1 inch reach advantage. He comes into the flight weighing 265 pounds as well. This will also be his sixth appearance in the UFC in his career. He lost his last fight, but prior to that he rolled off three victories in a row. He hasn’t lost two fights in a row since he was fighting in Bellator nearly 10 years ago. However, I expect that to change this one as I have Justin Tafa picking up the victory by split decision.

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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.