Main event

Max Holloway Vs Brian Ortega

Quick backstory, Holloway was supposed to fight Frankie Edgar for the title last march and ended up with a leg injury so he pulled out. Frankie could have sat and waited to get his title shot but he took the fight against Ortega. Ortega hit him with a huge uppercut and KO’ed the Legend Frankie Edgar.

That set up a fight between Max and Ortega in the summer.  Some of you might remember leading up to the fight there was something wrong with Max Holloway, it turned out he had concussion symptoms and the fight was cancelled a few days before.  Ortega had a chance to step up and fight someone just like Frankie did with him but he refused every offer.  My question is why did he refuse?  He wanted the title shot?  Scared of something happening with injury?  Maybe losing like Frankie did to him and lose his title shot?

So here we go let me break down these fighters.

Max Hollow is such a fun fighter to watch.  He loves to stand and bang against everyone.  He is really fluid, very accurate and his punches are all solid. Moves in and out sticks and moves a very smart fighter on his feet. He can be a little unorthodox with the way he holds his hands up not letting his opponent know where the next shot is coming from.  He moves his arms a lot. 

He has fought the best of the best. He just turned 27 and has been in the UFC for a long time gaining some very valuable experience against elite competition. Let me tell you some of these names.

Dustin Poirier, Dennis Bermudez, Conor McGregor, a younger Cub Swanson, Charles Oliveria, Jeremy Stephens, Ricaro Lamas Anthony Pettis, Jose Aldo twice. All of these guys are the top of the top in the UFC.

Max does not have the best BJJ, it is average at best but he has always held his own because he is a fighter.  Going up against what some consider to be the best JuJitsu fighter in the UFC he has to stay away and has to keep doing what he always does and use his standup to breakdown Ortega.

Brian Ortega

I love this guy as a fighter, he is a 145lb fighter but he just looks bigger than 145lbs.  He looks like he is 170lb fighter.  His Jiujitsu is off the charts and like I mentioned before everyone remembers Frankie getting uppercutted  so hard he came off his feet. That was amazing to see.

His standup game is average for an MMA fighter but where he gets his super powers is from his BJJ.  He hasn’t fought the best competition in the MMA especially the guys he fought are mostly past their prime.

In his last fightbefore Edgar he went against Cub Swanson. Cub dominated Ortega with his standupbut he ended up getting caught up close and put in a standing guillotine chokeat the end of the round.  That took a lotout of Cub and when the second round came you would have thought his experiencewould have not let him get caught again with that, well he did.

Ortega needs to get this fight in close and get Holloway to the ground and wear Max out.  He will win this fight on the ground and not standing like he did Frankie.

Money has been coming in on Ortega last week Ortega was at +100 and -130 for Max today the line is

-105 with Ortega and Max at -125. 

Now who do I like?  I am going with experience, I am going with a devastating stand up game and I am going with the Champ Max Holloway. This fight will end 4^th round or after.

Valentiana Shevencko vs Joanna Jedrejczyk

This fight is opened at Joanna at +255 and Valentina at -335

Right now this fight is at +275 Joanna and -365 on Valentina.

This is a brand new weight class for woman’s MMA it is the Flyweight Division, 125lbs.

Everyone knows Joanna.  She was the Champ at 115 and used her speed and standup to take out by winning decisions over and over again.  She really made everyone look bad in her weight class.  Here comes her fight against Rose Namajuans. She was going to bully Rose into being scared of her well, it didn’t happen.  She got hit hard in the first round and was getting pounded on the ground and tapped.  She tapped from strikes.  You never see someone tap from strikes.  She gets her rematch against rose and loses again but this time a unanimous decision.

She did say that her weight cuts down to 115 where brutal and 125 is where she should be so now she is going up in weight.  This will help her with her power but can slow her down a little with her striking.

Valentina is the best womans fighter that no one talks about.  He standup game is on point and powerful.  She was at 135 and and fought your favorite girl Amanda Nunes twice, first time it was a unanimous loss second time it was a split decision but in my eyes she beat Amanda. 

Her standup game is so technical and has major power in her hands she is also very strong and is almost impossible to get her off you once she has you on the ground.  Dropping down to 125 from 135 is going to be a major problem for everyone in that division and you can see with the spread with this fight.

The play here is for Valentina to win this fight inside the distance.  What makes it hard to say right now is how, will it be a KO TKO or a submission?  I will be taking Valentina inside the distance, I am leaning more towards a submission victory simply because she is going to wear out Joanna early in the fight. 

Alex Olivera Vs Gunnar Nelson

Alex is coming in as an underdog as of right now +110

Alex has some very impressive wins he is very long and strong.  Has very good power and can end a fight very very fast. He has very good cardio and likes to fight on the outside but can go to the ground and hold his own but he needs to keep this fight on his feet.  His kicks are absolutely killer and drains fighters. He can get in trouble if the fight gets to the ground early. What I like about Oliveria is his fights end before the 3 rounds are up.  His fights are Submission or TKO he will take someone out. Such a fun fighter to watch.

Gunnar Nelson

Took a brutal loss in 2017 and hasn’t fought since.  He was coming off two performance of the nights before the loss and has 4 total performance of the nights which is a high honor when fighting MMA. His ground game is on point as he is a champion with BJJ tournaments.

When he fights he has a Karate stance, very wide and bang hits you.  He will not want to throw with Olivera he is going to try and take him down.  If he tries to stand and throw with Olivera he is in trouble.

Right now this fight is sitting at +110 Olivera and -135 Gunnar Nelson.

I like Olivera here in this fight.  He is going to keep this fight standing and when Gunnar comes forward he will hit him with a knee.

You can get plus money on Olivera now but if you want you can also get even better odds with Oliveria ending this within the distance.

Couple of Quick bangers here

Eryk Anders and Elias Theodorou.

Right now you can get Anders at even or plus money depending on where you shop and Elias at -125

Elias might be the most boring fighter in the UFC every fight is a decision.  He wants to grind you and win on points no power.  9 fights in the UFC 7 went to judges and 5-2 in those fights.

Anders is as strong as an OX. He was an up and comer a brawler lost 2 out of three.  He is dropping in weight so do your research and find out how is weight cut went.  If there aren’t any issues with his weigh cut this is very good value.