John Dodson vs Petr Yan
Dodson has made his trend of losing fights based off of not enough volume and aggression. This fight falls on how much volume and pressure he puts on Yan himself. If he allows Yan to dictate the pace, walk him down, and outland him in volume and significant strikes then I believe this is Yan’s fight to lose. For that, I have to pick Yan by a unanimous decision win to improve his winning streak to seven straight wins.
Prop: Petr Yan by decision (-150)
Jan Blachowicz vs Thiago Santos
Blachowicz has started to string together a nice pile of wins since late 2017 against Devin Clark. His latest win comes against Nikita Krylov which was by submission in the second round. Thiago Santos is without a doubt one of his toughest fights in recent memory, probably since the Alex Gustafsson fight in 2016. Gustafsson simply outpointed him to a decision win in the main event. Santos’ style is different from Gustafsson’s and I believe he’ll try to finish Blachowicz like he does most of his opponents. Blachowicz’s best path to victory here is by takedown to a submission or potentially landing a knockout blow on Santos’ questionable chin. To Santos’ credit he has tightened up his defense when it comes to protecting his chin and his stand-up is much better than Blachowicz’s. I think sooner than later Santos will hurt Blachowicz and finish the fight by TKO.
Prop: Thiago Santos by inside the distance (+105)
