Alexander Volkanovski and ‘The Korean Zombie’, Chan Sung Jung, headline this weekend’s pay-per-view card in what should be an entertaining clash. In the co-main there is a title rematch a long time coming between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan and Khamzat Chimaev and Gilbert Burns face off in an intriguing affair. Also on the card, Mackenzie Dern meets Tecia Torres and the latest Irish hype machine Ian Garry, faces Darian Weeks. We have a look at the big three fights on the card below in this week’s UFC preview.
UFC 273 Betting Picks
Alexander Volkanovski vs. Chan Sung Jung
Those who truly believe Chan Sung Jung deserves and/or wins this fight seriously should not analyse MMA. Alexander Volkanovski appears to have the advantage in this fight everywhere and ‘The Korean Zombie’ now training under Henry Cejudo’s guise doesn’t count for as much as many pundits seem to think.
Alexander Volkanovski apart from a momentary close call, picked apart Brian Ortega in his last fight. While MMA math doesn’t always make sense logically Volkanovski tore Ortega to shreds on the feet and Ortega dominated Jung on the feet in his fight before that.
Jung is a UFC veteran and always makes his fights entertaining but what it likely does is showcases just how good Volkanovski is. I expect a one-sided flogging where the Australian secures his most dominant title defense yet.
Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan
This title rematch has been over a year in the making and is one that I see being much closer than many anticipate.
Aljamain Sterling started strong against Petr Yan in their first meeting but couldn’t keep the pace struggling to get the Russian to the mat. Since then he has had surgery and been able to go back to the drawing board.
I think many forget just how dominant Sterling was on his way to that title fight and if he can get this fight to the mat, I back his submission skills to get Yan out of there.
Petr Yan is a devastating and dynamic striker who shows patience and poise to pick his opponents apart. The Russian’s game plan for the first meeting was perfect but I believe he will need to elevate to another level to get the win again here.
I personally have this rated an even money fight so it is a no brainer to back Sterling to register what the oddsmakers have as a massive upset.
Khamzat Chimaev vs. Gilbert Burns
This fight really excites me as it is the first time we will get to see really how good Chimaev is. In his UFC career to date he has been out grappling men who don’t have overly great grappling so it is hard to gauge where he is at.
This fight is exciting as I believe Burns has the advantage on the feet and is extremely dangerous on the ground, making this a fight where if Chimaev marches forward with reckless abandon like he has done in his UFC tenure to date, I believe he will get finished.
While I believe Chimaev should be the slight favourite, the odds around Burns are blatantly outrageous and disrespectful. I personally believe Burns is the number two guy in the division and since his loss to Usman he bounced back by completely shutting down Stephen Thompson.
Back Burns to cause a major upset at unbelievable odds.
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