It’s Fight Day for UFC Vegas 118 and we have a pretty entertaining lineup on the way from the APEX with a welterweight clash between Belal Muhammad and Gabriel Bonfim headlining the card.

25 out of 26 fighters successfully made weight for the event with Junior Tafa missing the light heavyweight limit by half a pound with the curtain.

UFC Vegas 118 Picks & Predictions

My favorite picks this weekend are Iwo Baraniewski, Alessandro Costa, Marcus McGhee and Brendan Allen.

My favorite potential betting underdog is Edgar Chairez.

Baraniewski has reeled off a pair of victories in under 90 seconds each to start his UFC run, and while this one might go a tad longer, I expect him to continue rolling.

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While he’s blitzed his last two opponents and finished them on the feet, I think he’ll get Tafa on the ground for the finish in this one later in the first round.

Costa is one of the more heavy-handed fighters coming up in the flyweight division and I expect him to land heavy on Schnell sometime in this one for a stoppage win.

McGhee is looking to bounce back into the win column after falling to new division champ Petr Yan in his last fight and I love this spot for him.

This is a massive step up for John Yannis after his debut and I expect McGhee to be better anywhere this one goes.

Brenden Allen is coming off back-to-back wins and has a big opportunity to insert himself into the title conversation with a dominant showing here against Edmen Shahbazyan.

As long as Allen stays safe on the feet early, he should be able to mix in takedowns and be live for a finish down the stretch once Shahbazyan starts to tire out.

UFC Vegas 118 Betting Card

For the UFC Vegas 118 betting card, I had to keep things lighter than I would have preferred since I’ve been traveling all week and still haven’t made it back home yet with a wider range of books available.

The bets for tonight are Baraniewski by Submission (+335 for .5 units) and Chairez ML + McGhee ML + Costa ML + Baraniewski ML (+266 for .5 units).

Tafa has shown his chin holds up against heavy-handed opponents in the past, and although Iwo might crack him on the feet, I still expect he’ll need to go to the ground to put this one away.

Chairez should be the more durable fighter against Bruno Silva and I expect him to weather the storm early, take over as the fight progresses and be live for a stoppage in the back half.

That’s two tracked bets for a total of 1 unit on the betting card this weekend.

Costa by KO (-200), Allen by Sub or Decision Double Chance (-125) and Baraniewski to Win Inside the Distance (-300) were a few lines I wanted to play but wasn’t able to parlay them with my available books.

UFC White House Early Picks/Bets

We’re finally on the verge of the historic UFC Freedom 250 card next weekend from The White House and we already have a couple of parlays open heading into the event.

We ran O’Malley/Gane/Topuria back in March for +195 and progressed our cross-card parlay last weekend that needs Garcia/O’Malley/Topuria to cash at +555.

My favorite early picks on the card are O’Malley and Topuria by a margin, with Garcia being my favorite underdog pick so far against Diego Lopes.

Since this is a smaller card with fewer fights and bigger names, I’ll have picks up for it a bit earlier than usual this week so check back for full picks and bets on the UFC White House card.

UFC Vegas 118 Notes & Wrap-Up

Overall, I’m expecting this to be a really fun card to kick things off for June and get us ready for the festivities that are headed our way next weekend.

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

UFC Vegas 118 Quick Picks

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