It is simple for lovers and sports bettors to miss UFC 224 while awaiting CM Punk’s redemption fight at UFC 225, the winner. champion match-up at UFC 226 or the rumored Georges St-Pierre vs. Nate Diaz bout at UFC 227.
That’d be a mistake.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is getting an exciting battle card with interesting alternatives for gamblers seeking to parlay prelim fights with main-card bouts. The real money on this card is going to be made by betting on stoppages, decisions or even the over-under on rounds; not on digging to find underdogs to drop money on.
[Editor’s note: You can follow Kel at @KelDansby. Dansby is writer for ABC 13 in Las Vegas and co-host of The Corner Podcast along with Andreas Hale. The tradition covers boxing, mixed martial arts and also pro wrestling by your Hip Hop generation’s view.]
UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington, Preview, Betting Picks: Nunes vs. Pennington, Souza vs. Gastelum, Okeinik vs. Albini and much more UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington, Preview, Betting Picks: Nunes vs. Pennington, Souza vs. Gastelum, Okeinik vs. Albini and much more Let us begin with the card’s most important event women’s bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes (-1400) and Racquel Pennington (+800). Pennington enters UFC 224 to a four-fight winning series, with her final loss coming by split decision to former bantamweight champion and present featherweight contender Holly Holm.
That streak of achievement may jump off the page to those hoping to wager on a name underdog to upset a champion that still has a lot to prove, but if you dig deeper you find that Pennington’s streak is a small mirage.
“Rocky” has only ceased two of the last 10 opponents. Both of those opponents, Jessica Andrade (strawweight) and Ashlee Evans-Smith (flyweight), are now competing in lighter weight classes. Pennington needed a split decision to defeat Bethe Correia, which isn’t a terrific vote of confidence for those expecting she’ll beat Nunes.
Pennington’s most recent wins were against Elizabeth Phillips and a deflated Meisha Tate — equally also coming by choice. The cherry on top of the”don’t fall for the underdog story” cautionary tale is the fact that Pennington hasn’t competed since November 2016 and has been thrust to this title battle.
The winner Amanda Nunes has been much more striking in her last 10 fights, which explains why she is such a heavy favorite.
Since the beginning of 2016, Nunes holds two wins within Valentina Shevchenko, a first-round entry of Miesha Tate and Sara McMann, along with an absolutely demolishing knockout of Ronda Rousey.
Actually, the only people to take Nunes past the first round of a struggle was Shevchenko and Cat Zingano, who ceased Nunes with strikes at UFC 178.
Nunes has grown a lot since then and also the smart money points in her stopping Pennington in two and a half dozen rounds which is currently in -135. If the rounds scare you, but wish to still invest in Nunes, subsequently Nunes by TKO in +120 is a safer way to play with it. (Note: all of odds herein come from William Hill.)
There is a risk with this wager. Pennington has only been stopped once in her career, coincidentally also in the hands of Cat Zingano. For those with their hearts set on gambling the puppy, Pennington dropping by decision (Nunes by UD at +325) is your very best bet because the numbers say that an upset isn’t occurring on Saturday night.
Speaking of live puppies, the UFC 224 co-main is where creative bets can result in cashing a hefty ticket.

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