UFC 273 Main Card Betting Preview
This weekend’s UFC 273 promises to be an all-time great PPV card, stacked from head to toe with exciting matchups and headlined by two high level title fights. Featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski takes on Chan Sung Jung, aka ‘The Korean Zombie’ in an electric main event taking place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The co-main event features a bantamweight grudge match, as the current titleholder, Aljamain Sterling, rematches interim champion Petr ‘No Mercy’ Yan. The first time these two elite 135lb fighters clashed, Yan was disqualified after landing an illegal knee on his grounded opponent.
A number of extremely well-matched bout litter the undercard, with many fans keeping an eye on Khamzat Chimaev‘s biggest test to date, when he takes on former title challenger Gilbert Burns. Top prospects Ian Garry, Mark Madsen, and Mackenzie Dern also feature, resulting in what would appear to be a very solid PPV event.
Join LowKickMMA as we preview, predict, and hopefully win some money betting on UFC 273.
Alexander Volkanovski vs. Chan Sung Jung
Alexander Volkanovski comes into this title fight at UFC 273 as a massive 1.12 favorite on Betway, and with good reason. The featherweight champ is undefeated inside the UFC, having picked up wins over some of the best the 145lb division has to offer, including the likes of Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, and Jose Aldo.
Volkanovski takes on ‘The Korean Zombie,’ a fan favorite currently sitting as a 6.00 underdog. This line is admittedly a bit wide, considering the power Jung possesses. Some value bettors may take a stab at these odds, but Jung is now 35 and it appears that many of the natural attributes that earned him the moniker of ‘The Korean Zombie’ are beginning to diminish.
It is nonsensical to play Volkanovski’s money line, with the reward simply not being worth it. But he is a solid parlay piece, and has proved time and time again that he is a solid bet who will fight his heart out for your hard-earned cash.
Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan
UFC 273’s rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan is an intriguing one. Yan was clearly winning the first bout before his disqualification. Since then, Sterling has not fought, instead opting to undergo a much-needed operation to fix a long-standing neck issue he has been suffering from. However, Yan stayed active, facing off against Cory Sandhagen in an interim title bout.
Yan looked nothing short of sensational against Sandhagen, winning four of the five rounds emphatically. ‘No Mercy’ is currently a 1.22 favorite to win at UFC 273, whilst Sterling is a 4.33 underdog.
Similar to the main event, the favorite of this bout is likely a solid parlay piece to take. However, Sterling is a tricky fighter to take on, and if he manages to conserve his stamina more this time, there is a chance that he could utilize his high-level grappling skills to give Yan some trouble. Ultimately though, we will be adding Petr Yan alongside Alexander Volkanovski in a main card parlay.
Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Gilbert Burns is an elite welterweight who came very close to finishing current champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 258. With that being said, we will be picking Khamzat Chimaev to win this matchup.
Chimaev is the UFC’s biggest rising superstar right now, and has dominated every opponent he has faced in the octagon so far. Admittedly, Burns will be his biggest test to date. But the size discrepancy alone is enough to back Chimaev, let alone his insane finishing record and elite skillset.
Chimaev, at 1.20, becomes the third leg in our main card parlay (For a 4th leg, Ian Garry is another solid pick).
Vinc Pichel vs. Mark Madsen
In terms of single picks, we’re going with Mark ‘The Olympian’ Madsen. The undefeated lightweight can currently be got at underdog money, currently priced by Betway at 2.10. Madsen is an elite wrestler, who showed in his recent win over Clay Guida that he has been working on his striking as well.
Vinc Pichel is a UFC veteran who has earned his status as a favorite in this fight. However, Pichel’s takedown defense is listed by UFC Stats as only 25%. Madsen will surely take advantage of this opening, employing his Olympic-level wrestling to dominate the matchup, potentially even getting a finish.
We will be placing one unit on Madsen’s money line, as well as 0.5u on Madsen to win inside the distance at 4.50.
