UFC 227 comes to a pay-per-view near you live this Saturday from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California and features two huge title rematches featuring four fighters in the prime of their careers. In the co-main event, Henry Cejudo looks to topple one of the greatest fighters of all time in Demetrious Johnson in a rematch from April of 2016. Cody Garbrandt hopes to even the score with his rival TJ Dillashaw after suffering a second-round knockout last November.
Overall this card isn’t very good and neither is it for betting. I have just one play for this card and I absolutely love it, so let’s dive in.
Thiago Santos vs. Kevin Holland
We all know how elite Thiago Santos is, and if you still don’t I highly recommend taking the time to go out of your way and watch his fights. They tend to go down the same way all the time and that’s either Santos scoring a brutal knockout or his opponent landing a clean one on his chin to take the win. Santos could easily be the middleweight champion but it’s no secret that his poor chin durability will forever hold him back in my opinion. He has excellent technique in his striking, leg kicks, and muay thai. He has great timing and does a lot of things very well with fast speed. As for his opponent, Kevin Holland, this is his first fight in the UFC. The 25-year old is 12-3 in his MMA career with 6 (T)KO victories and had a very lackluster performance on the Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series from the middle of June (S2, Ep. 1). While I think this fight will 8 out of 10 times go Santos’ way ending in a knockout, I can’t count anyone out who can throw a strike due to Santos’ chin. In Santos’ 14 UFC fights, 12 of them have ended in under 1.5 rounds. I have great confidence another fight of his ends in under 1.5 rounds and I’ll gladly take the prop total once again.
Prop: Thiago Santos vs. Kevin Holland U1.5 (-145)
Thanks for reading and best of luck!
