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Brendan Allen and Kyle Daukaus meet up in a middleweight bout on the main card at UFC on ESPN 12 – also known as UFC Fight Night 174 – Saturday at the UFC’s APEX Facility in Las Vegas. The prelims kick off at 5 p.m. ET, followed by the main card set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+.
Allen (14-3) made his UFC debut Oct. 18, 2019 when he dusted Kevin Holland in Round 2. Allen’s next UFC fight was on the Benavidez-Figueiredo card Feb. 29 in Jacksonville, where he won in a first-round KO/TKO vs. Tom Breese. Allen has won each of his past six professional fights, last losing Jan. 26, 2018 at LFA 32 in a title bout against Anthony Hernandez in a unanimous decision. Allen has only lost once inside the distance, a rear-naked choke submission loss at LFC 52: Legacy Fighting Championship 52 against Trevin Giles in March 2016. Each of Allen’s past three bouts have finished inside the distance, and two didn’t even see the bell to end Round 1.
Daukaus (9-0) has yet to taste defeat in his professional MMA career, but this will be his first foray into the octagon as a UFC fighter. In his most recent event, he picked up a submission win over Nolan Norwood at CFFC 81: Cage Fury Fighting Championships 81 to earn the middleweight strap. Now Daukaus gets to battle another up-and-comer in what could be an impressive fight. He has posted eight wins by submission and one unanimous decision win, but has never seen an opponent quite as strong or talented as Allen.
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Brendan Allen vs. Kyle Daukaus betting odds
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Friday, June 26 at 7:05 a.m. ET.
The sample sizes on both Allen (-304) and Daukaus (+240) are rather small. It’s a tempting play to take Daukaus at a solid value, especially since he has never suffered a pro setback, but he is just too much of an unknown quantity. The best course of action is to AVOID playing the 2-way line and focus on more specifics.
There will be a bit of a feeling-out process in this one, so I like the play of TOTAL NUMBER OF ROUNDS OVER 1.5 (-130). I’m not 100 percent confident we’ll see the judges get involved in the decision, but I don’t feel it is going to be a super quick match, either. Instead of picking a particular fighter to win, simply bet how the fight will finish. Go with SUBMISSION (-106) at near even-money for the win.
New to sports betting? A $10 wager on Allen (-304) on the 2-way line returns a profit of just $3.29. A $10 play on OVER 1.5 rounds (-130) nets a profit of $7.69, while going with a submission (-106) by either opponent as the method of victory fetches a return of $9.43.
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