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Mackenzie Dern and Hannah Cifers do battle in a women’s strawweight bout on the main card at UFC on ESPN 9 – also known as Fight Night 176 – at the UFC’s Apex Facility in Las Vegas. The card kicks off Saturday at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+.
Dern (7-1) is a heavy favorite in this match against Cifers (10-4). Dern won her first seven professional fights before falling to Amanda Ribas last time out by unanimous decision Oct. 12. Two of Dern’s three fights at the UFC level have gone the distance, with a submission win over Amanda Cooper May 12, 2018 as her only fight in the UFC to finish inside the distance. While we haven’t seen it at the UFC level yet, Dern is deadly on the canvas, as four of her seven professional wins have come by submission, with the rear-naked choke as her specialty.
Cifers is coming off a Jan. 25 KO/TKO loss to Angela Hill. Two of Cifers’ four fights at the UFC level have finished inside the distance, falling in each bout by knockout. In 14 career professional fights she has never won via submission, but he has lost once, and that came via rear-naked choke. She’ll want to keep this fight upright to have any chance, as she has recorded 4.82 significant strikes landed per minute, and a 45.16 significant strike-accuracy percentage.
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Mackenzie Dern vs. Hannah Cifers betting odds
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday, May 28 at 6:15 a.m. ET.
Dern (-400) is the heavy favorite to win this one over Cifers (+305), and rightly so. Dern is the more well-rounded fighter, and it should be over quickly as long as she avoids the big blow from Cifers.
It would be worth a roll of the dice to take DERN TO WIN BY SUBMISSION (-106), as Cifers isn’t very good defensively on the ground. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to couple this with the NO (-213): WILL THE FIGHT GO THE DISTANCE? prop, too.
New to sports betting? A $10 bet on Dern (-400) to win only returns a profit of $2.50. A $10 bet of No (-213) on the fight going the distance pays a $4.69 return, and a $10 bet for Dern to win by submission (-106) pays $9.43.
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