Saturday night will see UFC Fight Island host the first of three exciting fight cards, all scheduled to take place between January 16 – 24.
Ahead of Saturday’s mouth-watering card which will see Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway (21-6) take-on Calvin ‘The Boston Finisher’ Kattar (22-4) in the main-event, we have looked at some of the best betting tips.
Middleweight: Joaquin Buckley (12-3) vs Alessio Di Chirico (12-5)
Fresh off the back of one of the best knockouts in MMA history, Buckley will be hoping to continue his impressive two-fight win streak.
Elsewhere, Di Chirico is flirting with the possibility of being cut from the top-level promotion after a three-fight losing streak sees the Italian precariously close to seeing his contract terminated.
Despite the pair’s contrasting form, Di Chirico has not been finished since 2017 which could prompt Saturday’s main card opener to go the distance.
Tip: Buckley to win via decision 11/4
Welterweight: Santiago Ponzinibbio (27-3) vs Jinliang Li (17-6)
Fight of the Night potential.
Despite Ponzinibbio’s impressive seven fight unbeaten streak, the Argentinian powerhouse has not fought in two-and-a-half years.
Elsewhere, Li will be desperate to get back into the win column after a recent decision defeat to Neil Magny saw the Chinese fighter end a three-fight winning streak.
I can’t see this match-up going the distance, I think one of these boys definetly goes to sleep, it just depends how quickly Ponzinibbio can shake of any ‘ring-rust’.
Nevertheless, I see the South American being just a little too much for Li to handle.
Tip: Ponzinibbio to win via TKO/KO, Submission or DQ 6/5
Featherweight: Max Holloway (21-6) vs Calvin Kattar (22-4)
What a great way to start 2021!
Holloway comes into Saturday’s main-event off the back of two title defeats to Alexander Volkanovski and will be desperate to reignite his stuttering form.
However, beating Kattar will not be an easy task.
The impressive Kattar is on a two-fight win streak and has not been finished since 2008.
I expect to see a brilliant fight from start to finish and with cardio being one of both of these two fighter’s best attributes, I fully expect to see Saturday’s main-event go the distance.
A much bigger, much harder hitting Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier famously failed to finish Holloway during their brawl at UFC 236 and I can see Kattar also having the same problems.
Having said that, I expect ‘The Boston Finisher’ to pull off an upset and put himself right in title contention by picking up the win at Fight Island.
Tip: Kattar to win via decision 4/1
*Odds accurate at time of publish, via OddsChecker.