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Ben Rothwell and Ovince Saint Preux mix it up in a heavyweight bout on the main card at UFC on ESPN+ 29 – also known as ESPN Fight Night 171 – at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. The card kicks off Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+.
Rothwell (37-12) looks to keep things going in the right direction after snapping a three-bout skid with a Round 2 KO/TKO over Stefan Struve Dec. 7, 2019. The heavyweight had suffered three straight unanimous decision setbacks to Junior Dos Santos, Blagoy Ivanov and Andrei Arlovski between April 10, 2016 to July 20, 2019, and apparently vowed not to leave his fate in the hands of the judges against Struve. Can we expect him to be a lot more proactive again Wednesday? Each of his past six wins at the UFC level have come via either submission or KO/TKO.
Saint Preux (24-13) moves up from light heavyweight to the heavy division for this one. He is coming off a Round 2 submission win vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk Sept. 28, 2019. Saint Preux doesn’t waste a lot of time in his fights, and also doesn’t like to leave it up to the judges, as four of his past five fights have ended in submissions (2-2). He owns a 1.34 takedown average and 40.35 takedown-accuracy percentage. In fact, seven of his previous eight fights at the UFC level have finished inside the distance. He has had trouble stringing wins together lately, as he hasn’t had consecutive victories in the UFC since a 3-0 run from April 22-Nov. 4, 2017.
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Ben Rothwell vs. Ovince Saint Preux betting odds
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday, May 12 at 2:25 a.m. ET.
ROTHWELL (+120) is actually a nice little value as a short underdog, especially since Saint Preux moved up to the heavyweight class and there likely will be a bit of an adjustment period for him. It will also be difficult for the former University of Tennessee linebacker to get Rothwell to the ground, which is where Saint Preux holds an advantage. Look for Rothwell to keep this bout upright and christen Saint Preux into the heavyweight ranks with a setback.
I like Rothwell to claim the upset, plus, I’m backing him to win by KO/TKO or DQ (+240), which is particularly attractive. In addition, taking Rothwell to win in either ROUND 1 (+450) or ROUND 2 (+650) could be rather lucrative, too. As such, taking NO (-213): WILL THE FIGHT GO THE DISATNACE? should be another winning prop.
New to sports betting? A $10 bet on Rothwell (+120) to win returns a $12 profit. A $10 bet on Rothwell to win by KO/TKO or DQ (+240) bags a $24 profit, while a $10 bet on a Rothwell win in Round 1 (+450) fetches a $45 profit. Rothwell winning in Round 2 (+650) will profit $65 on a $10 bet.
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