UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Murphy Fight Card Odds and Picks

After the incredible Fight night last Saturday in Mexico City, we are going back to the UFC Apex for another event in Las Vegas.

This time, the spotlight is placed on a lot of fighters who have been making their way through the rankings, but there will be no real “star” to pinpoint out of the group, which makes this a great event for casual fans and veterans to dive into.

For the main event, we get a Featherweight clash that puts Emmet a gatekeeper who has been through it all against an up and Murphy a new comer looking to make his way to the top.

Besides that, we get an interesting clash between Joanderson Brito and Pat Sabatini on the co-main event, which is likely to get the hype up as it takes place.

With 13 pretty solid fights in this card, split between 7 prelims and 6 Main Card bouts, we believe this fight night is great for those who are trying to understand the fight game a little better before they are introduced to the bigger stars on the roster.

Puedes consultar todas las cuotas de la UFC/MMA , el análisis de cada luchador y la apuesta final que puedes realizar en estos combates.

UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Murphy Fight Card Odds and Info

UFC Fight Night: Josh Emmett vs. Lerone Murphy

¿Por qué apostar por Josh Emmett?

Emmett is currently the only gatekeeper in the Featherweight division, fighting out his contract as championship opportunities are rapidly passing him by.

That is not to say he’s now past his prime because he can fire off that right hand like no one else, but it is fair to say that outside of those power side attacks, he has little else to offer his competition.

We think Emmett will have little choice but to wrestle, and the only reason we think that’s his only choice in this fight is that if he were to go for constant level changes and make Murphy drop his hands to stuff a potential takedown or defend it, it would expose him to an overhand right, one of the best attacks that Emmett is known for.

If this were purely a striking bout with zero takedown attempts, we’d expect Murphy to thrive as he is quicker and faster on the feet than Emmett and will stick and move for five rounds, never risking an extended combination.

¿Por qué apostar por Lerone Murphy?

Murphy doesn’t throw a lot of volume, but everything he throws has a mechanical meaning behind it. It’s not just to throw due to keeping active, but throwing stuff out there to set up the heavier shots.

However, the one thing that he has added that may give him the push that he needs is wrestling. He’s been adding more and more takedowns to his name, and that could be key in simmering the heavy-hitting Featherweight in Emmett.

It needs to be a takedown setup from strikes or at least one initiated from the clinch. Otherwise, Emmett might just time that right hand of a naked takedown, and that’s goodnight, Irene.

Final Betting Analysis: Josh Emmett vs. Lerone Murphy

If Emmett was to fight smart, expect Emmett to play around with some takedown attempts or anything to make Murphy believe a takedown is coming all the time. Perhaps sometime during the second or third round, when the reaction of a takedown attempt is instinctive, then that overhand right will be there.

We think it’s going to be Murphy’s time to shine. He needs to play the long game here, stick and move, keep to his long strikes, and let his mobility and speed do all the work in being a hard-to-track target and making Emmett himself play catch up.

UFC Fight Night: Joanderson Brito vs. Pat Sabatini

¿Por qué apostar por Joanderson Brito?

Brito is nightmare fuel for his opponents. Throughout his career, he has marched forward, thrown some of the heaviest shots in the division, busted the leg of Jack Shores wide open, submitted Jonathan “JSP” Pearce, and finished other fighters who tried to take him on.

Sure, his last fight ended in a loss against Gomis, but that should have been Brito’s fight to win. The fact of the matter is in comparison to Sabatini, Brito has more tools in his toolbelt to deal with Sabatini.

On the feet, we firmly believe that Brito will tear Sabatini apart. The power, speed, and technique are all on Brito’s side. Not only that, but just the aggression and carelessness of his actions, risking a lot to land some fight-ending stuff, and it works for the most part.

¿Por qué apostar por Pat Sabatini?

Sabatini is very well known for his submissions, but he has won against some of the lesser fighters in the division. We can argue somewhat that Brito will be very comfortable and highly intense on the feet. Sabatini will want nothing more than to get the fight to the ground, where he can thrive and perhaps look to find submissions of his own against Brito.

As soon as the fight hits the mat, he will be ruthlessly aggressive, swarming Brito with positional changes and advancing to a submission.

Sabatini has a stupendous grip on the ground, and even though Brito himself is built like a bull on testosterone, Sabatini’s arms probably won’t wear out as quickly as Brito’s, whose strength comes from intermittent bursts of energy compared to the vice-like grip strength required in Sabatini’s style.

Final Betting Analysis: Joanderson Brito vs. Pat Sabatini

Brito will decimate Sabatini if this fight remains standing. We’d even be surprised if Sabatini managed to land some knockout punches, which, amongst a high pace and chaotic bout, could happen but probably won’t.

We believe that the time spent in the standing fight will be more than the time on the ground, so we expect Brito to keep the lead on the cards.

UFC Fight Night: Cortavious Romious vs. Chang Ho Lee

¿Por qué apostar por Cortavious Romious?

Romious is known for his wrestling and grappling. The way that he lifted and slammed Bolanos in his debut fight was impressive. That style may give Lee a lot of problems during this fight, as he doesn’t exactly have the best “on paper” takedown defense, even though he did face a lot of fast-paced wrestlers.

Romious isn’t too fantastic on the feet, but that’s fine because Lee’s height advantage will work to Romious’ advantage due to takedowns being a bit easier to get on taller fighters.

Once the fight hits the mat, expect Romious to settle in for mount or a finishing position in which he can quickly transition to an armbar, something he pulls off astoundingly quickly.

The armbar is one of his best submissions, and we expect him to set up during this fight.

¿Por qué apostar por Chang Ho Lee?

Lee has been a promising addition to the UFC after his split decision win against Xiao Long. Despite succumbing to a volley of takedowns from the Chinese fighter, he did well enough to win on the scorecards.

Still, as much as he performed admirably during his RTU journey and the finale, we can’t help but think he will be on the receiving end of some vicious takedowns once again.

Now, those takedowns won’t come free. Lee fights at an outlandish pace, being so quick and light on the feet that he could give Romious a bit of chaotic trouble, especially in the clinch where Lee has been seen to effectively dig the underhooks and land some quick knees and elbows.

Final Betting Analysis: Cortavious Romious vs. Chang Ho Lee

Romious isn’t likely to walk away without being bruised and battered. However, a takedown from Romious will still lead to Romious gaining the instant upper hand.

Romious could run into knees when going for takedowns, but that still might work in his favor, given it’s better to defend takedowns with both legs planted than one.

Still, Lee’s cardio can keep up with that. He can probably fight for 10 rounds and be fine. It’s silly how good he is in endurance fights, and we are expecting the output to give him the victory in this one.

UFC Fight Night: Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Martin Buday

¿Por qué apostar por Kennedy Nzechukwu?

Nzechukwu is coming off back-to-back wins, or at least one decent win and an injury KO win. His last win was against Chinless Brzeski, and whilst the win looked fantastic on his record, it was against someone terrible, so we don’t rate it highly.

Nzechukwu is a diverse striker. His reach and height will give Buday something to think about, and we expect Nzechukwu to thrive on the feet. Teeps up the middle to the body, knees to the body, and anything to the body to open up the head strikes are on the menu when fighting someone like Buday.

¿Por qué apostar por Martín Buday?

Buday is a solid fighter. He has done reasonably well in the UFC, but in terms of athleticism and speed, we believe he will struggle against Nzechukwu on the feet. Buday’s only chance to win is to get close, fight in the clinch, and get the fight to the ground.

We understand that Buday isn’t currently known for this takedown ability. However, it’s probably general knowledge now that Nzechukwu will have the striking advantage in this fight, so we believe Buday will have more incentive to go for takedowns.

We expect him to come crashing forward, closing the distance and fighting to get the takedown without delay because delay means more strikes thrown by Nzechukwu, more teeps to the body, or chances for Nzechukwu to find his finishing shots.

Final Betting Analysis: Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Martin Buday

The most important thing for Nzechukwu to do is to not engage in the clinch because Buday still has somewhat solid wrestling, and that would be the best and perhaps the only way for him to win.

While we expect Budday to try, we do not expect him to succeed in this clash. Nzechukwu will have a successful time on the feet in this battle.

UFC Fight Night: Gerald Meerschaert vs. Brad Tavares

¿Por qué apostar por Gerald Meerschaert?

Meerschaert, or GM3, has always been a bit of a coin toss of a fighter. He is reasonably okay on the feet but absolutely not good enough to stand toe to toe against someone like Tavares.

Now, since Meerschaert will have a clear submission game plan in this fight, we will see him thrive on the ground. But the question and perhaps concern here is how the fight will transition to the ground, considering that Tavares has some of the best takedown defense on the roster.

GM3 has a puncher’s chance, but it would be near devastating to his success to let Tavares boxing go because GM3 has a horrible striking defense.

¿Por qué apostar por Brad Tavares?

Tavares has had a few slips and falls recently, with back-to-back losses against Park and Rodrigues. Even though he lost against those two very tough opponents, we wouldn’t count him out completely in this fight.

We think Tavares will be able to thrive for as long as the fight remains standing. We can’t have faith in GM3 getting a submission if Tavares doesn’t let the fight get to the ground, and the only way he got taken down during his fights against Park and Rodriguez was from his opponents mixing in the striking exceptionally well before the takedowns, and catching that thunderous leg kick that Tavares loves to throw.

Final Betting Analysis: Gerald Meerschaert vs. Brad Tavares

For GM3 to get a submission, it would have to be either off him successfully getting a takedown or him getting knocked down and just lying on his back menacingly.

Another big opening that GM3 could use to get the fight to the ground is catching the kick and driving forward with a takedown.

UFC Fight Night: Robert Valentin vs. Torrez Finney

Why Bet on Robert Valentin?

Valentin is solid on the ground, very comfortable taking the fight to the ground, working his submission magic there. Now, Valentin’s run through the TUF series was short and sweet, all first-round finishes. His fight against Loder was stupendously one-sided, considering that all Valentin tried to do was throw up submissions, and that’s not too promising.

Finney himself looks like a relatively well-rounded and very physically strong fighter who can finish his opponents both on the ground and on the feet through destructive ground and pound or hard-hitting punches on the feet.

Why Bet on Torrez Finney?

Finney is a mythical fighter. He was hyped up through his DWCS run. He has horrific cardio but otherworldly power.

His wrestling is going to be the key to victory. Whilst Valentin is good at throwing up submissions on the ground, Finney is just as good at being highly active on the ground, throwing heavy ground and pound, and just being overall heavy.

Now, the biggest concern for Finney is his cardio, as he is a one-round warrior in all essences.

Análisis final de apuestas: Robert Valentin vs. Torrez Finney

Finney will have a striking advantage. However, Valentin will look to mitigate through grappling and hunting submissions.

This is a grappler versus striker fight, with Valentin being the clear submission specialist who will perhaps thrive on the ground as long as he can control the posture of Finney.

Finney wants to prove to Dana and the fans that he deserves to be in the UFC, and we expect him to thrive in this fight simply because he has earned this through tough fights.

UFC Fight Night: Luis Gurule vs. Ode Osbourne

Why Bet on Luis Gurule?

Gurule is coming off a split decision win on DWCS, yet somehow has a contract to fight in the UFC, so there’s that. During his DWCS fight, he showed some excellent takedown defense even though his opponent, a high-level wrestler, was able to land 10 of 20 takedowns.

Gurule will have a fair wrestling advantage in this fight against Osbourne. He will have to contend with Osbourne’s extreme reach advantage. However, we think we’ll see Gurule press forward, use his boxing to lull Osbourne into a striking bout, and perhaps go for that level change when things get heated on the feet.

¿Por qué apostar por Oda Osbourne?

Osbourne has that Julia Avila career going on. He’s been losing for a long time, and there’s no real hope for him. His length has always been in the limelight as this unique thing for the division, but he doesn’t use it well. His output doesn’t quite really make his reach advantage all that advantageous.

With how well Gurule boxes, we really do think that Osbourne is going to have to be on the defensive here because regardless of what happens during this fight, Osbourne’s going to have to deal with a two-pronged approach that Gurule uses, as well as that constant forward pressure.

Análisis final de apuestas: Luis Gurule vs. Ode Osbourne

Our only concern for any takedown that Gurule uses is that Osbourne has really long arms, and that would make guillotines or front-head chokes a whole lot easier, so he would have to be aware of that, but since his wrestling is already at an elite level, we think he’ll be fine.

Osbourne has typically done badly against fighters who are great at wrestling, and whilst we don’t think Gurule is going to only wrestle in this fight. It’s the path of least resistance for the newcomer, as wrestling someone with a longer reach is generally a textbook way to win MMA fights.

UFC Fight Night: Davey Grant vs. Daniel Santos

¿Por qué apostar por Davey Grant?

Grant is an old warhorse who has taught himself a few new tricks over the years. The most prominent change he has made is his striking. He is unafraid to let his hands go, charging forward with power.

Now, Grant loves to open up the first round with leg and body kicks. His ranged weapons are his safety weapons, sticking to the outside of his opponent’s range and using his kicks to slowly deal damage and hinder the engine of his opponent.

The problem that Grant sometimes deals with is within the pocket, where he can be a bit hesitant about what to throw. Thus, he gets caught in a split second of inactivity that his opponent sometimes uses to counter and deal their own damage.

In terms of wrestling and grappling, that’s Grant’s bread and butter. He has always been fantastic on the ground and has built his entire career by submitting his opponents and outwrestling them in high-paced fights.

¿Por qué apostar por Daniel Santos?

Santos is a fun fighter to watch. He loves to throw powerful overhands and spinning attacks, a signature move when it comes to Chute Boxe fighters. The thing that stood out to us is that Santos doesn’t necessarily pepper his shots. There’s no volume without power, as it’s all power and nasty fight-ending attacks, especially his right overhand or hook, coming quick and viciously, and if Grant doesn’t raise the guard sufficiently, his chin could be seriously wobbled.

Grant’s age means a bit of a slowdown in performance, and this is a young man’s sport, so whilst Grant does have the experience and the perfect skill set to make this a challenging bout for Santos, this clash favors the younger fighter on the physical level.

Análisis final de apuestas: Davey Grant vs. Daniel Santos

Now, Santos is fast and scrappy. He will be much quicker than Grant and perhaps will have a lot of success messing up the rhythm and timing of Grant’s kicks, especially since the best counter for a leg or body kick is a straight punch.

If we are to guess as to how this fight will play it, it would mostly be a striking bout with Santos looking to wrestle as Santos does have the tendency to go for level changes to work his BJJ on the ground, whereas Grant is getting more and more comfortable with his striking.

Santos’ vulnerability would be his legs and body, which Grant typically attacks early on, and if Grant chips away at those legs early, the power of Santos will be diminished, allowing Grant to lure out an attack from Santos only to retaliate and counter with a right of his own.

UFC Fight Night: Dione Barbosa vs. Diana Belbiţă

¿Por qué apostar por Dione Barbosa?

Barbosa is a fantastic grappler who may give Belbita a whole lot of trouble on the ground. We cannot imagine that Barbosa will play around with Belbita on the feet since she has an extensive kickboxing background and is primarily known for her ability to do well on the feet.

Barbosa will probably waste a little time trying to get the fight to the ground. Additionally, Barbosa’s wrestling and grappling ability may also give Belbita moments of inactivity due to the difficulty of kicking a grappler when one leg is not planted or a kick is caught.

¿Por qué apostar por Diana Belbiţă?

Belbita only has two wins in her UFC career, which honestly shocked us. We thought she won more than that. Anyway, she’s not exactly a top-tier fighter. She’s seemingly there as a filler fighter and is likely to do relatively well on the feet compared to the ground.

Historically, the more the fight remains standing, the better chance Belbita has at winning because she’s good at throwing volume down range, and that could be a powerful deterrent until Barbosa accepts the fact that volume will be a problem and becomes an aggressive wrestler anyway, which would be a highly effective thing to do as long as those takedowns are successful because if it becomes a fence battle or a fight in the clinch, Belbita will likely thrive until she gets off balance and hits the ground.

Análisis final de apuestas: Dione Barbosa vs. Diana Belbiţă

This fight seems simple. Barbosa needs to wrestle and grapple to win. Belbita’s defenses in that area have been exposed time after time, with minimal chance of her improving those aspects of her game.

We believe Barboza will get the win with little to no issue if she goes to the ground in this clash.

UFC Fight Night: Rhys McKee vs. Daniel Frunza

¿Por qué apostar por Rhys McKee?

McKee really does live up to his name as the “Skeletor,” as he is long, skinny, and honestly, a punching bag that occasionally punches back. All of this doesn’t bode too well, considering Frunza’s actively looking for a finish, whether on the feet or on the ground.

We believe that McKee’s toughness has become a problem. Even though he has a solid chin and great durability, he often gets bullied by his opponents.

The one problem McKee chronically has is his striking, as it looks slow and lethargic. He does sometimes throw fast, but he doesn’t have that explosive speed to make his length a problem.

Why Bet on Daniel Frunza?

Frunza is coming off a major upset win over his DWCS opponent, in which he destroyed him in the second round, and that was an eye-opener. Straight off the bat, we believe that Frunza will be the faster striker. Everything he throws is much cleaner and more proper than McKee’s looping punches, and there’s no better punch than a punch that lands first.

We expect Frunza to look like the much faster striker. Additionally, his leg kicks are pretty huddling, and that will slow down McKee quite a lot. When it does come to those leg kicks, expect it to be thrown as a counter to McKee’s punches. Frunza does like to cover up and let that leg kick go, so keep an eye on those.

Análisis final de apuestas: Rhys McKee vs. Daniel Frunza

Frunza will march forward, looking to get the fight to the ground, or even march forward and throw harder than McKee throws. One thing that McKee could do that might turn the tide here is use his long arms and size to smother Frunza by grappling against the cage.

UFC Fight Night: Victor Henry vs. Pedro Falcão

¿Por qué apostar por Víctor Henry?

Henry is excellent on the feet, utilizing a variety of attacks from leg kicks to body and head punches to give his opponent a few things to think about defensively.

The most prevalent thing that Henry does that leads to his success on the feet is his jab feints, as he likes to work off the lead hand before letting his rear hand or leg kicks go. He is so tactical with his approach to striking that nothing comes without any force unless it is backed up by feints.

Defensively, Henry is rather good at rolling with the punches and using good head movement to duck and angle off of an attack, so he’s relatively tricky to land on unless the fight is at such a frenetic pace that something lands.

¿Por qué apostar por Pedro Falcão?

Falcao is coming off a tough debut loss against Victor Hugo, and whilst he certainly tried to win via takedowns, it was ultimately Hugo who outstruck the debuting fighter, regardless of position. Mostly, the fight took place against the cage where Falcao was in control, but Hugo still landed some pretty big attacks, and that was ultimately the main thing that stood out to everyone watching the fight.

Falcao needs to wrestle in this fight because he cannot stand and bang against Henry unless a well-placed straight right lands on Henry.

Final Betting Analysis: Victor Henry vs. Pedro Falcão

On the ground, Henry can be somewhat good at scrambling to a strong position or even attacking a submission himself, but considering that the best work that Falcao does starts from the ground, we think that Henry will just use his footwork and quick reflexes to shove off the takedowns as he did against Yahya.

We think that if Falcao can’t get a takedown, he’s probably going to look to grind against Henry against the cage and probably win from that alone because that’s the UFC nowadays.

UFC Fight Night: Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Talita Alencar

¿Por qué apostar por Vanessa Demopoulos?

Demopoulos is one of those fighters who is both rather unathletic as a mixed martial artist and somewhat one-dimensional. She’s also a decision merchant who is relatively good on the ground, someone who does chase submissions but often does not actually get them, usually using her submissions to maintain position.

Demopoulos excels on the ground, where she feels most comfortable. She is effective at neutralizing her opponents’ movements and can easily adjust to situations while maintaining top control. However, since every fight begins in a standing position, you can expect her to throw some awkward, labored punches before attempting to transition to the ground.

¿Por qué apostar por Talita Alencar?

Alencar is only two fights into her UFC career, and whilst she looked reasonably “okay” during her fights, the one thing that stood out to us is her complete failure to wrestle effectively.

We’re seeing a lesser version of Mackenzie Dern in that her grappling is great, but her ability to transition the fight to a position in which she can use her grappling belongs on a missing persons’ poster.

We think Demopoulos will adjust to the poor takedown attempts reasonably well, and we are probably going to see just that, with perhaps a slow and sluggish battle on the feet in which we could see Demopoulos pull ahead a little bit more as she does sometimes add a bit of emphasis to her horrific looking strikes.

Final Betting Analysis: Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Talita Alencar

Our concern in this fight is that Demopoulos is finally facing someone who has somewhat of a grappling background, and that could lead to Demopoulos getting caught in a submission because Alencar is a fantastic submission specialist herself.

But we may be trusting too much into Alencar if we are to consider that result, so we are more likely expecting Demopoulos to take the victory.

UFC Fight Night: Loma Lookboonmee vs. Istela Nunes

¿Por qué apostar por Loma Lookboonmee?

Lookboonmee is one of the most raw Muay Thai strikers in the division; her entirety as a combat sports athlete stems from her extensive Muay Thai background.

She hasn’t fought as often in recent years, and we would genuinely love to see more of her in the cage. But with her sporadic activity, we are unsure how she will look this week.

Where Lookboonmee lacked in the early stages of her MMA career was her counter-wrestling, but since then, she has improved a substantial amount to the point where you can call her a somewhat well-rounded MMA fighter.

¿Por qué apostar por Istela Nunes?

Nunes is on a losing streak, and that’s not pretty to see on anyone’s record, but what’s worse is the fact that her last win was 6.5 years ago, and she is coming off a nasty elbow dislocation injury that happened just over 1.5 years ago. So rest assured, both fighters are coming in with a bit of ring rust.

Anyway, Nunes showed some glimpses of good fighting when she fought Sam Hughes, showcasing her ability to diversify her target by attacking the body often, but she seems like an average fighter far from UFC level.

Análisis final de apuestas: Loma Lookboonmee vs. Istela Nunes

Istela’s reach advantage is going to give Lookboonmee some problems if Nunes sticks to her straight attacks and keeps Lookboonmee away from clinch range because the moment that Istela is stuck in the clinch against a veteran Muay Thai fighter like Lookboonmee, she loses that round, or even that fight.

Whilst Nunes herself is difficult to break down, given her failures as a fighter, Lookboonmee is hard to talk about because every time we see her, she looks multitudes better than she did before, and her year-plus time away from the cage brings us nothing but intrigue for this fight.

Emmett vs. Murphy Pronóstico de apuestas: Leron Murphy

Brito vs. Sabatini Pronóstico de apuestas: Joanderson Brito

Romious vs. Ho Lee Pronóstico de apuestas: Chang Ho Lee

Nzechukwu vs. Buday Pronóstico de apuestas: Kennedy Nzechukwu

Meerschaert vs. Tavares Pronóstico de apuestas: Brad Tavares

Valentin vs. Finney Pronóstico de apuestas: Torrez Finney

Gurule vs. Osbourne Pronóstico de apuestas: Luis Gurule

Grant vs. Santos Pronóstico de apuestas: Beca Davey

Barbosa vs. Belbiţă Pronóstico de apuestas: Dione Barbosa

McKee vs. Frunza Pronóstico de apuestas: Daniel Frunza

Henry vs. Falcão Pronóstico de apuestas: Víctor Enrique

Demopoulos vs. Alencar Pronóstico de apuestas: Vanessa Demopoulos

Lookboonmee vs. Nunes Pronóstico de apuestas: Loma Lookboonmee