Nurmagomedov vs. Zaleski dos Santos: UFC Fight Night Odds

Nurmagomedov is priced as a -125 favourite on the MMA odds and dos Santos -105.

Abubakar Nurmagomedov -145
Elizeu Zaleski +110

Abubakar Nurmagomedov UFC Fight Night Odds

The 33-year-old Nurmagomedov, from Russia, is 17-3-1 in a pro mixed martial arts career dating to 2011 and unranked in the welterweight division. He is a three-time combat sambo world championship bronze medalist and Russian national combat sambo champion. Abubakar Nurmagomedov is a cousin of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Abubakar was to fight Carlston Harris on March 11 but withdrew from the bout due to an undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Jared Gooden. Thus, Abubakar was last in the Octagon in October and beat Gadzhi Omargadzhiev by unanimous decision to improve to 2-1 since joining the UFC.

Nurmagomedov has seven wins by decision, six by KO/TKO and four by submission. He has two losses by submission and one by KO/TKO. His draw was vs Bojan Velickovic in the Professional Fighters League.

The 5-foot-11 Nurmagomedov has a reach of 72 inches and his fights average 10:57. He lands 3.17 significant strikes per minute with 53 per cent accuracy and absorbs 2.53 with 66 per cent defence. His takedown average is 1.37 per 15 minutes with 30 per cent accuracy, and his takedown defence is 85 per cent.

For Saturday, his favoured method of victory is by decision at +120, by KO/TKO/DQ at +800 and submission at +1800. A draw is +6600.

Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos UFC Fight Night Odds

The 36-year-old Dos Santos is from Brazil and he’s 23-7 in a career dating to 2009. He hasn’t ranked in the welterweight division, either. Dos Santos was perhaps on the verge of a title shot entering the summer of 2019 on a seven-fight win streak, including a memorable spinning wheel kick knockout of middleweight contender Sean Strickland, but hasn’t been able to keep that momentum.

“Capoeira” is one of three fighters in UFC history to earn knockouts stemming from a flying knee and a spinning wheel kick. Cory Sandhagen and Edson Barboza also accomplished the feat. However, dos Santos is 2-2 since then. He comes off a unanimous decision win over Benoit St. Denis in October. The 581-day layoff is the longest of dos Santos’ career.

The 5-foot-11 dos Santos has a reach of 73 inches and his fights average 12:07. He lands 4.65 significant strikes per minute with 42 per cent accuracy and absorbs 3.22 with 58 per cent defence. His takedown average is 0.52 per 15 minutes, and his takedown defence 62 per cent.

Dos Santos has 14 wins by KO/TKO, six by decision and three by submission. He has four losses via the judges, two by submission and one by KO/TKO. For Saturday, the Brazilian winning by decision is +235, followed by KO/TKO/DQ at +400 and submission at +700.

That the fight goes the distance is -180 with no at +150.