It’s Fight Day for UFC Vegas 102 at the Apex in Las Vegas! This weekend’s card is headlined by what should be a fun middleweight matchup between Jared Cannonier and Gregory Rodrigues. The lineup features 12 matchups overall with the late cancellation of Jared Gordon and Mashrabjon Ruziboev, reportedly due to an illness on the Ruziboev side. All of the remaining fighters on the card successfully made weight for their respective matchups.

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My favorite picks this weekend are Jacqueline Cavalcanti, Gregory Rodrigues, Edmen Shahbazyan and Gabriel Bonfim. Cavalcanti is 3-0 so far during her run with the promotion and gets a very favorable matchup here against Julia Avila, who is making her first walk to the octagon in over a year and only for the third time since 2020. Cavalcanti should be able to keep this one on the feet and pick up a clean decision in this fight.

Rodrigues is getting his first main event shot with the promotion after putting together a 7-2 run since joining the UFC. Robocop is extremely dangerous with his striking and has the ability to find finishes via submission as well. Cannonier is entering off back-to-back losses and will be turning 41 next month, neither of which bode well for this matchup. I think Rodrigues to land the more damaging shots and get the fight to the ground if needed to pick up the win here via KO/TKO or potentially a club and sub.

Shahbazyan has had a very up and down run overall with the promotion but remains an extremely dangerous striker with finishing power as 11 of his 13 wins have come via KO/TKO. Dylan Budka has struggled a bit at the UFC level thus far going 0-2, and if he can’t get his wrestling and grappling going early in this one, I expect Shahbazyan to be able to put him away on the feet relatively quickly.

Gabriel Bonfim and Khaos Williams is probably going one of two ways: Either Bonfim will find some success taking this fight to the ground or Williams very well might catch him on the feet at some point. While Williams has only surrendered two takedowns during his UFC run, he also hasn’t really faced many opponents known for wrestling and grappling. Bonfim should be able to get Williams to the ground and I think he’ll be very live for an early stoppage win.

For the betting card this weekend, I’m keeping things pretty light since there’s not a ton that I really love or trust on this lineup. For the straight bets we have: Calvin Kattar ML (+325 for .5 units), Kattar by Decision (+700 for .25 units) and Gabriel Bonfim by Submission in R1 (+450 for .25 units). I also have a two-leg parlay out consisting of Shahbazyan by KO/TKO + Rodrigues ML (+222 for .5 units, originally included Jared Gordon ML also at +317 before the void). Ultimately passed on playing Cavalcanti on anything since her lines are so high.

I decided to take a shot on Kattar this weekend despite the fact that he has struggled pretty heavily in his past few matchups and is facing a streaking opponent in Youssef Zalal. While Kattar has dropped 3 straight and looked particularly rough against Aljamain Sterling in his most recent bout, he’s been facing elite competition during that run. I think he’ll have better luck staying on his feet in this matchup and will be able to squeeze out a decision with his striking.

That’s a total of 4 bets out for this card for 1.5 units. BetMGM is offering a 25% profit boost that I might end up playing later in the day or during the card, so keep an eye on our socials for any late additions. Overall, this is a pretty tough card from a picks/bets perspective, but hopefully we have some decent targets for tonight. As always, enjoy the fights and best of luck with the bets!

Also, we have a major announcement dropping later today involving a fighter from an upcoming UFC card, so be sure to stay tuned for more information! We’re extremely excited about this one!

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