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The UFC takes its hard-hitting action to Boston’s TD Garden on October 18, 2019, for UFC on ESPN 6 or UFC on ESPN: Reyes vs Weidman.
In the main event former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman will make his ambitious light heavyweight debut against Dominick Reyes. In the co-main event, Yair Rodriguez will take on Jeremy Stephens will lock horns again after their fight last month ended in a no-contest following an eye poke. Heavyweight prospect and former football star Greg Hardy will also fight on the main card and he will take on Ben Sosoli.
The preliminary card which will be showed by ESPN 2 isn’t star-studded like the main card. However, it has several bouts that present interesting bets to make. We scoured the prelims schedule and picked the fights which we think have the best value bets to make this weekend. Check them out:
Charles Rosa vs Manny Bermudez
Charles Rosa is fighting for the first time in 30 months after suffering a neck injury. He is coming off a “Fight of the Night” brawl against Shane Burgos at UFC 210, a fight he lost by third-round knockout. Before that, he was 2-2 in his first four UFC bouts, defeating Sean Soriano and Kyle Bochniak while losing to Denis Siver and Yair Rodriguez. Rosa is 5-9 with a reach of 69 inches and is a switch hitter. He is 11-3 with three knockouts and seven wins by submission.
Manny Bermudez opened his UFC career with submission wins over Albert Moraes, Davey Grant and Benito Lopez with his 59-second stoppage of Grant earning “Performance of the Night” honors. The Bermudez had a difficult weight cut at UFC 241, forcing his fight against former LFA champion Casey Kenney to be at a catchweight. He lost that bout and will now move up to 145 pounds for this fight. Bermudez is 5-10 with a reach of 71 inches while fighting out of the orthodox stance. He is 14-1 with 11 submission wins.
Rosa is a scrappy dude and he has fought bigger names but he struggles against specialists. Boston Strong doesn’t have the elite wrestling to take down the top strikers nor does he have the elite striking to counter high-level grapplers. Bermudez is a choke specialist with 10 of 11 submissions coming in the first round. I think Rosa’s going to have his hands full trying to fight off submission attempts here.
Prediction: Manny Bermudez
Kyle Bochniak vs Sean Woodson
Kyle Bochniak is a CES MMA veteran who signed with the UFC in 2016. After starting his career with a 6-0 record, he’s only 2-4 in his six UFC bouts. In his Octagon debut, he put up a valiant effort but lost to Charles Rosa. He went 2-1 after that but then has lost back to back fights to Zabit Magomedsharipov and Hakeem Dawodu. Bochniak is 5-7 with a reach of 70 inches while fighting out of the orthodox stance. His record is 8-4 with two knockouts and two submission wins.
Bochniak
-145
Woodson
+125
Odds were taken from SportsBetting.ag as of 10/16/19
Sean Woodson is an alumnus of the “Contender Series” who earned his UFC contract after a spectacular second-round flying knee knockout of Terrance McKinney who was the UFC betting the favorite in their bout. Woodson is a difficult read for his opponents because he stands 6-2 and has a 78-inch reach. This orthodox fighter has very good cardio and likes to pressure his opponents with his boxing attack. He has issues with his takedown defense but is decent off his back.
Bochniak is facing a huge disadvantage in size here because Woodson is five inches taller and eight inches longer than him. The only way for Bochniak to have a chance here is to bring the fight to the ground but he cannot keep Woodson on his back for long periods. I think Woodson can keep this fight standing up and he will use his insane pace to outwork Bochniak for 15 minutes.
Prediction: Sean Woodson
Randy Costa vs Boston Salmon
Randy Costa fights out of Lauzon MMA and was 3-0 with 3 knockouts as an amateur. Costa started his professional MMA career with four knockouts wins, winning all four bouts in a total time of 2:50. He made his UFC debut at UFC 236 and started well against Brandon Davis. However, his cardio failed him and he was submitted in the second round of that contest. Costa is 5-9 tall with a reach of 73 inches and switches stances. He is 4-1 with four knockouts.
Costa
+140
Salmon
-160
Odds were taken from SportsBetting.ag as of 10/16/19
Boston Salmon previously fought for RFA and earned his UFC contract via the “Contender Series” in 2017. However, injuries kept him off the Octagon and he made his UFC debut only last April. It was short though as he was knocked out in 25 seconds by Khalid Taha. Salmon is 6-2 with four knockouts. Known as Boom Boom, Salmon stands 5-9 with a reach of 69 inches while fighting out of the orthodox stance.
This is an interesting fight to call because Costa is a big puncher and Salmon is coming off a 25-second KO loss. However, Costa has yet to prove that his risky bruising style is going to work against quality opponents. Heck, I’m not even sure if he can fight for more than five minutes. Salmon is no elite opponent but neither is Costa as technical a striker as Taha was. I think Salmon survives the initial flurry and that will be the key. Costa gasses after the first four minutes and it’s Salmon after that.
Prediction: Boston Salmon
