For the first time in what feels like an eternity, we have a Saturday night card to look forward to this week as the UFC heads to Shanghai in China.
Our American friends get this every week but for us Aussies it is very much a novelty so soak it in!
A light heavyweight main event between Johnny Walker and Zhang Mingyang is the feature fight but there are plenty of quality match ups which is generally the case when the UFC goes overseas.
My top three UFC Fight Night betting plays can be found below.
Johnny Walker enters this fight with an overall pro MMA record of 21 wins from 31 fights which includes a no contest against the current champion of the division Magomed Ankalaev.
He lost the rematch against Akalaev via second round knockout and five months later he was knocked out again by Volkan Oezdemir.
The Brazilian has knockout wins over Khalil Rountree, Ryan Spann and Paul Craig but his career is at a crossroads right now with just four wins from his last 11 fights.
Local hope Zhang Mingyang is trending in the opposite direction having won his last 12 pro MMA fights, four of which have been in the UFC.
He produced the best win of his career with a first round TKO of the retiring Anthony Smith in April and will be looking to please his local fans with another win which will surely get him a top five opponent.
It’s a tough ask for Johnny Walker to get to China as the main event against a local but he is an awkward striker who is also very capable if the fight goes to the canvas.
Taking into consideration how many times Walker has been knocked out, and the winning streak of his Chinese opponent, there’s no doubt that Mingyang deserves favouritism.
But the fact that we are currently getting over $4.00 for Walker is ridiculous in my opinion and it’s an easy bet.
Brian Ortega was so close to becoming the UFC featherweight champion and if it wasn’t for the grit and pure determination of the great Alexander Volkanovski, he would have been.
An extremely tight guillotine was locked in on Volk back in September 2021 but the champ somehow got free and finished the round on top, ultimately defending his belt.
Ortega suffered a shoulder injury against Yair Rodriguez in his next fight but won the rematch, before going on to lose a decision to Diego Lopes in his next outing.
Former Bantamweight champion Aljamain Stirling has also had his injury issues over the years and after losing his title against Sean O’Malley in August he moved up to Featherweight.
A decision win against Calvin Kattar was followed by a loss to Movsar Evloev late last year but his path to a title shot is still alive especially with a win against Ortega.
If we are being honest, this looks a better fight than the main event between two very high level mixed martial artists and I believe this is closer than a 50/50 contest than the market is suggesting.
Brian Ortega is one of the best grapplers in the entire sport and although Sterling has very good takedown defence, and offensive wrestling of his own, he may struggle on the canvas.
There is plenty on the line when these two heavyweights trade blows on the main card in China on Saturday night.
Six straight wins earned Sergei Pavlovich an interim title shot against Tom Aspinall at the end of 2023, a fight he lost in the first round by TKO.
He then lost a decision to the very tricky Alexander Volkov before getting back in the winners’ circle at the start of this year by winning a decision against Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
During his winning streak he had knockout wins over Tai Tuivasa, Derrick Lewis and Curtis Blaydes and all six came in the very first round!
Acosta is a former LFA heavyweight champion who brings in a five fight win streak to this bout.
There is no doubting his striking capabilities but seven of his 14 wins have been by decision including three of his last four.
Pavlovich is a bulky and aggressive striker who can end any fight with one punch and that’s exactly what I predict happening at some point in the early exchanges of this one.