It’s Fight Day for UFC 314 from the Kaseya Center down in Miami, Florida and we should be in store for an awesome night of action with this card. The lineup features 13 bouts and will be headlined by a clash for the vacant UFC Featherweight title between former champ Alex Volkanovski and surging contender Diego Lopes. Only one fighter officially missed weight for the event (Nora Cornolle was 1.5 pound over the limit), however, Jean Silva needed a second attempt to make the featherweight limit for his matchup with Bryce Mitchell.

My most confident picks for this card are Chase Hooper, Michal Olekseijchuk, Marco Tulio and Alex Volkanovski. My favorite potential betting upsets are Michael Chandler, Bryce Mitchell and Patricio Pitbull. The matchmaking for this card was exceptional, as there really aren’t many “safe” spots this weekend for the picks and bets.

Hooper is 16 years younger than his opponent Jim Miller, who will be making his 46th walk to the UFC octagon on Saturday. While Miller is a legend in the sport, I think Hooper will prove to be the better fighter at this stage. He should be able to use his length to stay safe in the striking while he works his way to takedowns. I expect Hooper to get this one done on the cards or via submission.

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Olekseijchuk is coming into this fight on a rough skid, dropping his last three fights and four out of five overall, but I love this spot for him getting a decent step down in competition against Sedriques Dumas. While Dumas is a solid all-around fighter, I think Olekseijchuk’s move to the Fighting Nerds will pay dividends in this fight and we will some new wrinkles added to his game. I like Olekseijchuk’s chances of getting this one done via KO/TKO down the stretch or decision.

Tulio makes his second walk to the octagon and gets a good matchup here against Tresean Gore. Unless Gore can get this one on the ground early, I expect Tulio to be the more dangerous fighter in the striking and be able to land the more damaging shots on the feet to pick up a KO/TKO win or get it done on the cards.

Volkanovski is coming off the longest layoff of his career following back-to-back knockout losses, the last of which at the hands of Ilia Topuria, and looking to get back to the top of the division. I really like Diego Lopes, but I think he needs an early stoppage here, and unless Volk’s chin is completely gone, I think he can avoid the early threat here and dial back the clock for one more solid performance to get this done on the cards.

For the betting card this week, I’m taking a couple of stabs on small parlays and props. The parlays are Volkanovski ML + Over 899.5 seconds (+170 for .75 units), Bryce Mitchell ML + Volk ML/Start R4 – Yes (+745 for .25 units), Olekseijchuk ML + Jandiroba ML + Volkanovski ML (+358 for .5 units), and Michael Chandler ML + Volkanovski ML (+280 boosted to +350 on BetMGM for .5 units). The prop bet is Chandler by Decision (+700 for .25 units). That’s five tracked bets for a total of 2.25 units out.

I don’t mind going heavy on Volk on the backend tonight because it sets up easy potential hedges with Lopes ML, ITD and KO/TKO for myself or anyone else looking to hedge. I think Chandler will have success on the feet and have big moments against Paddy Pimblett, and while he may get taken down a couple of times early, he should stay safe from the submission threats and get this one done in a close decision. I also really like Mitchell to pull off an upset over Silva with a ton of control time and enough damage mixed in to take a close decision.

We also wanted to give a huge special shout out to Fight Bananas and David Van Auken for inviting us to come out next weekend for Island Fights 88 in Pensacola, Florida to get in some media work at the event. We have been collaborating with them on some graphics recently and they have been absolutely fantastic to work with, so we’re really excited for this opportunity! Be sure to follow them across their socials and keep an eye out for more to come from this wonderful relationship, including some great stuff next weekend.

Also, be sure to check out our new podcast “The Cage Walk Podcast with Kala” where you can catch interviews and chats with various fighters, athletes and other members of the combat sports community. The first two episodes are available now over on MILLIONS featuring interviews with Juju Betts and Nate Hamblin and there will be plenty more coming in the near future, including several planned for tomorrow.

Overall, this is a very deep card top to bottom that should be a lot of fun to watch. Let us know who you’re picking to win tonight and who you think will leave as the new UFC Featherweight champ. There’s no UFC event next weekend, so we’ll be back in two weeks for UFC Kansas City. Best of luck on all the bets and hope everyone enjoys the fights!

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