UFC 247: Derrick Lewis vs. Ilir Latifi odds, picks and best bets

Previewing Saturday’s UFC 247 heavyweight fight between Derrick Lewis and Ilir Latifi, with MMA betting odds, picks and best bets.

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Derrick Lewis and Ilir Latifi will go toe-to-toe at UFC 247 at Toyota Center in Houston in a three-round heavyweight battle on the pay-per-view card (to watch, sign up for ESPN+ now). Below, we breakdown the Lewis-Latifi fight, with UFC 247 betting odds and picks.

Lewis (22-7-0, 1NC) enters this one with two losses to Daniel Cormier and Junior Dos Santos in his past three outings, but he stopped the bleeding against Blagoy Ivanov last time out at UFC 244 with a split-decision victory. He is expected to successfully continue this climb back to the top with this battle. Lewis heads into this one with distinct size advantages, standing 6-foot-3 to the 5-foot-10 Latifi, weighing in at 260 to 205 pounds while also holding the reach advantage at 79″ to 73.5″. In addition, he holds the lead in the significant strikes category at 49.95 significant strike accuracy percentage with 2.63 significant strikes landed per minute. If there is one area Lewis could fail, it’s in the ground game.

Latifi is a compact piece of iron who can take a beating, but his strategy will likely be avoiding a toe-to-toe battle for any length of time, while trying to get Lewis to the canvas early and often. His only advantage in the stats comes in the takedown average (1.85 to 0.52) and takedown accuracy percentage (30.56 to 25.0) departments, while also leading in submission average (0.51 to 0.00). That’s where Latifi will want to fight this main card bout.

Lewis-Latifi odds


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Per BetMGM Sportsbook, Lewis (-239) is a moderate favorite in his heavyweight bout over Latifi (+175). The oddsmakers also lean to the match not going the distance (three rounds), with odds there being set at a -334 for No – and the odds to go a full three rounds at Yes +220.

Are you new to sports betting? A $10 wager on Latifi to pull the upset returns $17.50 in profit. A $10 bet on Lewis at -239 returns a profit of $4.20 with a victory.

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Lewis is a solid favorite, and normally a wager at odds lower than -175 is not my cup of tea. However, you can maximize your profits with a series of other bets while putting down a little lettuce on the big favorite, too.

Lewis-Latifi betting guide

The odds are very good that this bout will not going the full three rounds (-334), but that’s a rather risky play. Instead, go with the fight to go Over 1.5 rounds (-118), which will give you a little room to play with, and make you feel better if it does unexpectedly go the distance.

I think Lewis wins this one in Round 2 (+450) or Round 3 (+800). If you don’t want to pinpoint it, bet both. Unless the fight is decided in Round 1 or it goes the distance, you win, and you can win a lot. In fact, if you were to just bet each of these two wagers exclusively, it could be a tidy little payday. In fact, if you were to bet Lewis to win on points (+500), too, it’s a super hedge, but the only way you lose money is if he wins in Round 1 or Latifi wins. It’s a super safe way to bet this bout, but it could be effective if you don’t feel like risking it.

If you want to watch UFC 247, sign up for ESPN+ and catch all of the action. Speaking of action, if you want to bet on UFC 247, place your wagers at BetMGM now. For more sports betting picks and analysis, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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