After a couple of late scratches to the lineup, we have a relatively small card heading our way later today with UFC Vegas 93 taking place at the Apex in Vegas. The headliner for the event will see Alex Perez and Tatsuro Taira faceoff in a matchup of flyweight contenders. Perez will be making his third walk to the octagon since March and looks to continue his recent resurgence while Taira will attempt to continue his rise through the division and get one step closer to a title shot. Beyond the main event, there isn’t a lot as far as big names or high stakes, but there should still be a few fun fights sprinkled throughout the card. Joshua Van was scheduled to face Tagir Ulanbekov on the card as well, but the fight was scrapped yesterday after Ulanbekov missed weight and pulled out. Ikram Aliskerov was also pulled from his scheduled bout with Antonio Trocoli (more on that below).

My favorite picks for this weekend are Tatsuro Taira, Asu Almabayev, Nate Maness and Jeka Saragih. I love the matchups for all four of these fighters and all of them should be live to win via stoppage as well. Taira is very well-rounded with good enough striking to hold his own on the feet and he should have a sizable advantage in the grappling as well if he can get Perez to the ground. While Perez has pretty solid takedown defense stopping 82% of attempts against him, he leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to defending submissions when he does get caught. Five of Perez’s eight losses have come via submission, and I think Taira will add another one to the count tonight.

Almabayev enters his fight with Jose Johnson riding a 15-fight win streak, and I like his chances of extending it here. Johnson is dropping down in weight and will have sizable height and reach advantages, but I don’t think his takedown defense will hold against the wrestling of Almabayev. Asu should be able to find a submission or pick a clear decision win in this one. Maness will be facing Jimmy Flick, and as long as he can avoid the early sub threat, he should be able to hand Flick a seventh loss via KO/TKO down the stretch. The Saragih/Wilson matchup should go pretty similarly, with Saragih being the more dangerous striker between the two fighters, and I think he’ll pick up an early KO/TKO win.

Since there aren’t a lot of spots that I loved on this one, I’m keeping the official betting card pretty light this week with three plays: Maness by KO/TKO in R2/3 (+310 for .5 units), Taira by Submission in R1/2/3 (+220 for .5 units) and Almabayev by Submission + Taira by Submission (+438 for .5 units with 33% boost, +329 without boost). That’s a total of 1.5 units out across the 3 official bets. I also have quite a few lines out on open plays coming into the card this weekend that already have legs. The additional lines I need to cash those plays: Taira ML, Taira -5.5 point spread, Almabayev ML, Saragih ML and Quinlan ML. If you’re interested in getting ahead of the action with me by getting in some early plays with NBA/NFL/MLB lines during the week, feel free to let me know in the comments or reach out via one of our socials.

The next two events are UFC Saudi Arabia and UFC 303, and after an unbelievable week of juggling by the promotion, those cards have seen significant changes. Ikram Aliskarov was pulled from his scheduled bout on this card to headline next weekend against Robert Whittaker in a high-stakes matchup for the middleweight division after Khamzat Chimaev was forced to pull out with a significant illness. The top of the UFC 303 lineup saw even more significant changes with Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler being cancelled and pushed to a later date. That card will now be headlined by Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka 2 for the UFC Light Heavyweight title. Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes was also added as the new co-main event for the card, and Anthony Smith will be replacing Jamahal Hill against Carlos Ulberg. Despite the changes to the lineups, both of these cards should be a lot of fun with plenty of great betting spots, so be sure to check back here both weeks. Hope everyone enjoys the fights tonight and best of luck on the bets!

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