In a heavyweight bout in Saturday’s main event, Alistair Overeem and Alexander Volkov meet at UFC on ESPN+ 48 at the UFC’s APEX Facility in Las Vegas. The event – also known as UFC Fight Night 184 or UFC Vegas 18 – has the prelims kick off at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN+, followed by the main card on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET.
Overeem (47-18) is a veteran who always puts on a good show. This will be his fourth consecutive headliner event. He is coming off a fifth-round KO/TKO against Augusto Sakai Sept. 5, 2020 at this very same venue. In fact, it was his seventh straight fight which ended via KO/TKO, with four wins and three losses during the span. Since arriving at the highest level of MMA back on Dec. 30, 2011 in UFC 141’s main event against Brock Lesnar, 16 of his 19 fights ended by way of KO/TKO, with nine wins via knockout. Overeem has won three times via decision with no losses when the judges were involved, but that’s a rarity. You never need to worry about the submission with Overeem.
Volkov (32-8) enters the octagon with a 4.76 to 3.71 significant strikes landed per minute advantage, although he is slightly behind Overeem at 64.14 to 58.98 in significant strikes-accuracy percentage. Volkov is coming off a KO/TKO of his own, taking care of Walt Harris Oct. 24, 2020 in Round 2 at UFC 254. He has four KO/TKO results (3-1) across his past six bouts overall. This will be a brawl, and there is a more than good chance it ends like so many others for these two, with someone getting knocked out.
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Alistair Overeem vs. Alexander Volkov: Betting odds, predictions and picks
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 1:41 a.m. ET.
I actually like the veteran OVEREEM (+160) as the better value on the 2-way line. Volkov (-190) is a dangerous fighter, who delivers plenty of punches, but Overeem is a brawler, too. This really can go either way. Why back the moderate favorite with basically the same chances of a win?
As mentioned, there is no reason involving the submission when dealing with Overeem. It’s just not part of his game anymore. Instead of wasting money on the 5-way line, look for the 7-way line and take OVEREEM BY TKO/KO OR DQ (+290) for an even better value.
If you want to play it safe, and not play a particular fighter, just a result, look for KO/TKO/DQ (-200) for the fight finish, and NO (-250): “WILL THE FIGHT GO THE DISTANCE?”
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MMA Junkie:
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