UFC Fight Night Betting Preview: 3 Best Bets for Saturday, June 22
Get ready for UFC Fight Night by tuning into our betting preview! We’ll dive into our 3 best bets for Saturday, June 22 below. Good luck, fight fans!
Main Event Play: Ikram Aliskerov (+130 at DraftKings)
Whittaker was set to face Khamzat in this main event up until last week when he pulled out of the fight. Whittaker is a professional and will be ready for Aliskerov who jumped in as a last-minute replacement.
Aliskerov is like Khamzat because he likes to start with a high pace and try to finish the fight in the 1st round. He has finished his last 3 opponents in the 1st round with 2 coming via KO/TKO and the other coming via submission. This is a major step up in competition for Aliskerov who is currently 15-1 in his career but we believe he will make the most of it.
On the other hand, Whittaker has been competing against the best in the division for quite a while now. He is 2-2 in his last 4 fights with his losses coming to Du Plessis and Izzy.
We believe Aliskerov will be able to outpace Whittaker and use his sambo to pick up some crucial takedowns. The juice OVER at 2.5 -165 would not be a terrible play on this fight as well.
Main Card Top Play: Johnny Walker (-110 at BetMGM)
Walker was flying high for a while before running into Magomed Ankalaev in his last fight. He got finished in the 2nd against him and to be fair, this was a serious jump in levels compared to his last couple of fights.
Oezdemir has not looked great in his last 5 bouts. He is just 2-3 with his last win coming over Bogdan Guskov who was making his UFC debut.
Both fighters are good strikers but Walker will have a 7in reach advantage and should be able to continue striking at a safe distance. We believe if Walker does not make a major mistake and gets caught by Oezdemir, he should be able to pick up a decision victory.
Main Card Top Parlay Play: Gastelum/Pavlovich (+105)
Pavlovich will be facing his fellow countryman Alexander Volkov in a fight that will be filled with heavy punching. Volk has won his last 3 fights but now is facing an absolute freight train in Pavlovich.
If he gets taken down, he is going to have a very tough time being able to get back up, and, on the feet, Pavlovich has a 4in reach advantage despite being 4in shorter than Volk. Gastelum is likely to have a bit tougher time in his fight with Rodriguez. He is coming off a loss to Sean Brady where he got caught and submitted in the 3rd round.
However, he defeated a similar striker to Rodriguez in Chris Curtis in his fight prior to Brady. Rodriguez is coming off back-to-back losses to Machado Garry and Magny. We like this parlay but would not go as high in units as the other two plays.
Other Leans for remaining fights
Shara Magomedov (-250 BetMGM)
Jared Gordon (+205 ESPN Bet)
Muhammad Naimov (-105 Draftkings)
Rinat Fakhretdinov (-350 BetMGM)
Bill Christy
Sports Betting Contributor
Bill is a high-volume sports bettor who runs his own sports investing business. He has an uncanny ability to find tons of mathematical edges on each day’s sports betting card. Bill covers all sports but his bread and butter is UFC, Golf, and College Hoops. Find him on X at @LarrysLocks2
