UFC Fight Night 252 Odds, Prediction: Nikolay Veretennikov vs. Austin Vanderford

In a surprising turn of events, the UFC announced on Tuesday that it had signed Austin Vanderford to the roster and he would immediately make his debut against Nikolay Veretennikov at UFC Fight Night 252 in Seattle on Saturday.

The catchweight bout is hovering around a pick’em on the MMA odds, although Veretennikov was sitting as a very slim -115 favourite to win.

Nikolay Veretennikov UFC Fight Night 252 Odds

Veretennikov is 12-5 since his professional MMA debut in 2012. The 35-year-old from Kazakhstan missed out on a shot at a UFC contract when he lost to current surging UFC prospect Michael Morales at Dana White’s Contender Series in 2018, but the fight has aged well and it’s fair to say Veretennikov might have been overlooked.

Veretennikov followed up his DWCS loss with three straight United Fighting League wins, two by knockout and one by submission. He made his promotional debut in a catchweight bout at UFC Vegas 95 in August, losing to Danny Barlow by split decision. The fight against Barlow was surprisingly slow and sluggish, with neither fighter putting on much of a show, which is likely why Veretennikov has been demoted to the preliminary card.

Outside of his last fight, Veretennikov has shown a great ability at slowly breaking down his opponents and his game plan against Vanderford will likely be similar. I expect Veretennikov to take his time feeling out Vanderford while landing valuable shots that should give him the edge if the fight goes the distance.

Austin Vanderford UFC Fight Night 252 Odds

Most people thought it was only a matter of time until Vanderford signed with the UFC, especially after he married former UFC star Paige VanZant in 2018. The 34-year-old Vanderford has fought professionally for 13 years, compiling a 12-2 record, with four wins by knockout, three by decision and five by submission.

“The Gentleman” went 5-2 in Bellator between 2019 and 2022, but came up short when he challenged Gegard Mousasi for the middleweight belt. Vanderford was knocked out in the first round against Mousasi and followed that up with another first-round knockout loss against Aaron Jeffery, albeit as a short-notice replacement. He became a free agent following the PFL-Bellator merger and won his LFA debut against Victor Romero in just 65 seconds last October.

While Vanderford and the UFC were already on the verge of signing a contract, I think that date was moved up because of the barrage of injuries and withdrawals on this Fight Night 252 card. That gives me a lot of concern as Vanderford hasn’t had a full training camp and he was absolutely destroyed the last time he took a fight on short notice.

UFC Fight Night 252 Prediction: Nikolay Veretennikov vs. Austin Vanderford

A short-notice fight obviously isn’t easy to handicap and that’s why this is set as a pick’em. I lean toward Veretennokov simply because he’s consistently stayed fighting over the last few years, while Vanderford has only fought once since 2022.

Give me Veretnnikov simply to win (-115).