Holly Holm vs Mayra Bueno Silva UFC Fight 224 Night Odds, Prediction
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Edgar Chaput
Mark your calendars, MMA fans. This week’s main card features the women’s side of the sport. American Holly Holm and Brazilian Mayra Bueno Silva will test their might in a Bantamweight fight.
The MMA odds deem this tilt relatively close. Holly Holm currently sits as the favourite, paying out -185 to Silva’s +145.
Holly Holm UFC Fight Night 224
At 41 years of age, Holly Holm is definitely one of the veterans of the UFC circuit. A former featherweight champion, the Albuquerque native enters the octagon with a 15-6 win-loss record. Nicknamed the “Preacher’s Daughter,” her dominant style is boxing.
We haven’t seen Holm in action very much over the past few years. She’s engaged in only two bouts over the last two calendar years (2022 and 2023). There would have been a fight in October of 2021 at UFC Fight Night 195, but a knee injury kept her out. Flash forward to May 2022 at UFC Fight Night 206, which saw her go toe-to-toe against Ketlen Vieira. Unfortunately, Vieira got the better of her, or at least so deemed the judges in a split decision. Most media outlets scored Holm higher. Most recently was a bout with Yana Santos at UFC on ESPN 43 this past March. It resulted in a dominating win (judges’ decision).
The American has a slight height advantage over her Brazilian rival (five feet eight inches to five feet six). As such, her reach is superior (69 inches to Silva’s 66.5). Her being a boxer, it stands to reason that submissions are not part of the winning strategy for her (zero per cent of her victories). KO/TKO, on the other hand, are much more important at 57 per cent, with the balance of 43 coming from favourable decisions. Of note, her average fight time is way, way longer at 17:29 to 8:50, suggesting at excellent stamina helped by her fighting style. Interestingly, she lands fewer significant strikes per minute than Silva, 3.17 to 4.2.
Mayra Bueno Silva UFC Fight Night 224
At 31 years old, Mayra Bueno Silva, or “Sheetara,” can rely on youthful energy when she enters the ring to face Holm this Saturday night. At 10-2-1, her skill and tactics have served her well so far.
Silva is on a nice winning streak. Among her successes was a unanimous decision that went her way in April 2022 against Wu Yanan at UFC on ESPN 34. She was so good that the bout earned Fight of the Night honours. That was followed by a submission win over Stephanie Egger in August 2022 at UFC on ESPN 40. Her last tilt came in February, when the UFC Fight Night 2019 card put her against Lina Lansberg, whom she handled with a kneebar submission.
We’ve established that she’s a bit shorter, but she packs a few more pounds (139.00 to 135.50), suggesting just a bit more muscle mass. In stark contrast to her American counterpart, the majority of “Sheetara’s” wins come via submission. A whopping 70 per cent in fact. Only 10 per cent are earned from KO or TKO, with the remaining 20 thanks to impressed judges. As is so often the case, when one strikes a lot, they open themselves for counters. Silva lands more than Holm, but also eats more per minute too (4.71 to 2.77). Although Silva grapples less (0.38 every 15 minutes to Holm’s 0.92), her accuracy is superior (50 per cent to 31).