It’s almost fight day for UFC Vegas 116 and we’re back at the Meta APEX for a loaded 13-fight card.

This UFC Fight Night card will be headlined by Aljamain Sterling and Youssef Zalal in a ranked featherweight clash with title implications on the line.

All 26 fighters successfully made weight for the event, including those stepping up on short notice.

UFC Vegas 116 Picks & Predictions

My favorite picks for this weekend are Francis Marshall, Jafel Filho, Norma Dumont and Jackson McVey.

My favorite potential betting upsets are Aljamain Sterling, Ryan Spann and Adrian Luna Martinetti.

Marshall is one of the late additions to the lineup, stepping in to face the debuting Lucas Brennan in a matchup that was added early in the week.

I expect Marshall to be the better striker here and to avoid the submission threats of Brennan to pick up an entertaining decision or late stoppage victory.

Filho is another fighter getting a late notice opponent in Cody Durden, who took the fight on about a week’s notice.

While we’re huge fans of Cody and never enjoy fading fighters we’ve work with, this is a very tough spot to be taking on short notice against a pretty elite submission artist.

I expect Filho to work his striking until this one gets to the ground, and once it does, he’ll likely find a submission.

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Dumont and Edwards should be a competitive affair with high stakes in the women’s bantamweight division as the winner will likely find themselves in the title conversation.

Edwards has looked good during her four-fight winning streak, but Dumont is big step up in competition, and one I expect her to struggle with.

Dumont should be able to dictate where this fight goes and find success on the feet or the ground to pick up a decision win on the cards.

McVey is getting a very winnable, yet dangerous matchup against Sedriques Dumas in the middleweight division and he should be able to take advantage of it.

McVey will be the bigger fighter, more well-rounded and more likely to use his fight IQ to help navigate this one for a win inside the distance.

UFC Vegas 116: Sterling vs Zalal Betting Card

For the UFC Vegas 116 betting card this weekend, we have a pretty even split between small parlays and prop bets.

The prop bets for this card are Buena Silva and Montague to End by Split/Majority Decision (+600 for .25 units), McVey by Submission (+200 for .5 units) and Martinetti by Submission (+425 for .25 units).

The UFC parlays for tomorrow are Marshall ML + Filho ML + Sterling ML (+202 for 1 unit), Spann ML + Dumont ML (+249 for .5 units), Polastri to Win in R3 or Decision + Filho by Submission (+205 for .5 units) and Filho/Submission/U599.5 Seconds SGP + Sterling +5.5 Point Spread (+235 for .5 units).

Trusting my gut that Buena Silva is going to show up and make this a competitive scrap against Michelle Montague and potentially swing a card or two in a close fight.

McVey should be able to take his fight with Dumas to the ground if he needs to where he should have a solid advantage.

I understand why so many people are on Davey Grant this weekend, but I think Martinetti will be able to get this one down on the ground at some point and will likely be able to get Grant out if he does.

That’s a total of seven bets for 3.5 units on the tracked bets for UFC Vegas 116.

UFC Vegas 116 Notes & Wrap-Up

Overall, this continues a trend of really tough fights to pick that extended for most of April.

I understand the complaints on the lack of household names on some cards lately, but the matchmaking of the fighters booked has been on point in my opinion.

We had a decent night at the office last weekend for UFC Winnipeg, finishing the night up .25 units on the bets.

If anyone happens to be in the Memphis area, there’s an awesome lineup going down tomorrow night at Primal Cage Warriors 2 and Kala will be working the event, so pull up and enjoy the action.

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We’ll be adding in a list at the bottom of our picks from now on, so be sure to check out all of the awesome businesses helping OddSmokerMMA deliver winning picks and bets, as well as everything else that we offer.

Hopefully we’ll get a pretty good night of fights to round out the month before May kicks off next weekend with UFC Perth headlined by Jack Della Maddalena and Carlos Prates.

As always, best of luck on the bets and hope everyone enjoys the fights!

UFC Vegas 116 Quick Picks

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