Elizeu dos Santos and Aleksei Kunchenko lock horns in a welterweight bout in the prelims of UFC on ESPN+ 28 — also called UFC Fight Night 170 — at the Ginasio Nilson Nelson in Brasilia. The card gets underway in Brazil’s capital Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
Elizeu dos Santos vs. Aleksei Kunchenko preview
Dos Santos (21-6-0) is four inches taller than his opponent, and he also has a three-inch reach advantage. He also holds a slight edge in Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute (LPM) at 4.18-3.62, while Kunchenko is slightly more accurate at 42.45% in Significant Strike Accuracy to 39.96%. While Kunchenko is also better in Takedown Accuracy, dos Santos holds a slight lead in Takedown Average while posting a 0.6 submission average to zero for Kunchenko.
Dos Santos, nicknamed “Capoeira”, saw his seven-bout winning streak come to a close when he was knocked out in the third round against Li Jingliang Aug. 31, 2019 on the Andrade-Zhang card. During his seven-bout win streak, he recorded three KO/TKO victories, a win by submission and a pair of unanimous decisions and a split-decision win.
Kunchenko (20-1-0) has won two of his three bouts since making his UFC debut with a win over Thiago Alves on Sept. 15, 2018. He is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Gilbert Burns, who is on this card in the main event. He was a knockout machine in his earlier days, but at the highest level of MMA, he has had mixed results. He’ll want to keep the fight upright, and dos Santos is likely to want to follow suit. This one could be a brawl.
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Aleksei Kunchenko betting odds
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 11 a.m. ET.
Place a sports bet on this mixed martial arts action or other events at BetMGM.
Per BetMGM, DOS SANTOS (-134) is a slight favorite on the 2-way line over Kunchenko (+110), and the favorite is the play. The Russian fell to a Brazilian fighter last time out, and he’ll be 0-for-2 in the past two bouts after this one. This is going to be the bout you want to see on the card, as it should be a toe-to-toe slugfest which the crowd really would have enjoyed if they were allowed to enter the arena. Unfortunately, Ginasio Nilson Nelson will be empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Betting DOS SANTOS BY KO/TKO OR DQ (+450) is worth a small-unit bet, too.
New to sports betting? A $10 wager on Dos Santos (-134) to win nets a profit of $7.50. A $1 wager on Dos Santos (+450) to win by KO/TKO or DQ secures a profit of $4.50.
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