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Jessica Penne vs Tabitha Ricci 

Ricci ML (-325)

Ricci DEC (-150)

OVER 2.5 Rounds (-325)

7-1 Strawweight prospect Tabatha “Baby Shark” Ricci will fight 14-7 veteran, Jessica Penne on Saturday’s early prelims. Ricci has gone 2-1 in her young UFC career, dropping her debut to now #1 ranked contender, Manon Fiorot. Penne on the other hand is trending down in her career, going 2-4 in her last six fights. Ricci is a young, explosive, fast twitch athlete; where Penne is slowing down and becoming a less dangerous fighter every time out. Ricci is beginning to reach her prime, entering this fight 28 years of age, while Penne is likely a loss or two away from retirement as a 40 year old strawweight. Ricci is the better striker and better wrestler and will dominate in every aspect of this fight, but Penne is a tested veteran who has only been finished by elite competition like Valentina Shevchenko and Joanna Jedrzejczyk. If nothing more Penne will survive to a decision cashing us on three decent value plays for to get us off to a quick start on Saturday’s prelims. 

Julian Marquez vs Marc-Andre Barriault 

Marquez ML (+130)

Marquez SUB (+350) 

Julian Marquez is an explosive middleweight finisher with a 100% finish rate in his 9-3 professional career. He has gone 3-2 in his UFC career winning all three fights by submission. In the other corner is Marc-Andre Barriault who is 3-5-1 in his UFC career with his three wins coming against the lowest level of competition in the UFC Middleweight division. Barriault is the more technical striker of the two, but Marquez has nuclear power on the feet and elite chokes. Barriault just lost his last fight by submission to Anthony Hernandez, a very stylistically similar fighter to Marquez. I absolutely love Marquez as an underdog and will sprinkle submission at +350 all day. 

Mateusz Gamrot vs Jalin Turner 

Gamrot ML (-220)

OVER 1.5 Rounds (-175) 

Mateusz Gamrot and Jalin Turner will put on one of the most competitive, high level fights of Saturday’s card. Gamrot is a heavy handed, dominant wrestler that has already tested his skills against the top of the Lightweight division in fights against Arman Tsarukyan and Beneil Dariush. Turner just cracked the top 15 in his last fight with a submission victory over Brad Riddell. While Turner has finished his last five fights in under two rounds, he simply wasn’t facing anything like Mateusz Gamrot. Gamrot is one of the most relentless wrestlers on the roster, averaging 4.7 takedowns per fight. The only time Turner has been taken down 4 times in a fight, he lost a unanimous decision to Matt Frevola. Gamrot does have dynamite power in his left hand with 7 KOs in his career, but his best path to victory will be on the ground, as Turner is an elite striker that will have a seven inch reach advantage. I expect a competitive 29-28 decision victory for Mateusz Gamrot after controlling the fight with dominant grappling cashing us on both our moneyline and round plays. 

Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane 

OVER 4.5 Rounds (-155) 

After going back and forth on this all week I have officially backed out of betting on a winner of this fight. Jon Jones is the greatest Light Heavyweight of all time, and I believe the greatest martial artist of all time. With that being said, he hasn’t fought in over three years and has never fought in the Heavyweight division, and that simply leaves me with too many questions to bet on him as a -165 favorite. However, I don’t think the worst version of Jon Jones that could show up Saturday night is going out there and getting knocked out. In 39 career fights neither Jon Jones nor Ciryl Gane have ever been finished. -155 is great value for me to bet that this will not change Saturday night. I expect five rounds of the highest level Heavyweight MMA we have ever witnessed and I will happily cash my slip without worry of what name the judges call. 

Farid Basharat ML + Ian Garry ML + Bo Nickal ML + Shavkat Rakhmonov ML + Valentina Shevchenko ML 5 leg Parlay (-111) 

Moneyline Odds Via Betfred Sportsbook