One of the prelims at UFC Fight Night 58 is a three-round bantamweight bout between Yuta Sasaki and Leandro Issa. According to the current betting lines available at Several Bookmakers, Sasaki is a -485 favorite (bet $485 to win $100) while Issa is a +350 underdog (bet $100 to win $350). MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened up Sasaki at -405 and Issa at +285, and the betting public so far likes Sasaki. I agree with the line movement as I am expecting Sasaki to score a stoppage in this one. Here’s why. Sasaki (18-1-2) is one of the top bantamweight prospects coming out of Japan. The 25-year-old is 1-0 in the UFC with a first-round submission win over Roland Delorme in his debut, a fight which Sasaki looked absolutely tremendous in. However, that fight was in China and now Sasaki will have to fly half-way across the world to fight in Brazil. Sasaki is currently undefeated over his last 12 fights and has looked just fantastic ever since his lone career loss in 2011. He has a great submission game with nine career tapouts, and with his underrated wrestling he is able to get fights to the mat and use that part of his game. We haven’t seen much of his striking yet, but as a young fighter it’s like Sasaki is constantly improving in that realm of the game. Sasaki is not proven against legitimate competition yet, but fighting a guy like Issa, he should be able to get the victory, and that’s why you see him enter the fight as a big favorite. Issa (12-4) is 1-1 in the UFC with a submission win over Jumabieke Tuerxun and a submission loss to Russell Doane. A decorated grappler, the 31-year-old Issa has eight career victories by submission and is overall quite solid on the mat offensively. However, he has holes defensively in his grappling and has lost two times by tapout. Issa doesn’t have good striking either, and only has one knockout in his career as well as two losses via knockout, indicating his chin isn’t the best. In the UFC Issa is 1-1 but he could be 0-2 had it not been for a hail-mary submission against Tuerxun, a fighter who went 0-3 in the UFC. Issa will have the home-field advantage in this fight as he is a native of Brazil, but he trains at Evolve MMA in Singapore now so he’ll also have to deal with a long flight back to Brazil for this fight just like Sasaki. If the fight goes to decision you would have to assume Issa would have a slight edge due to biased Brazil judging, but considering the holes in his defence, there’s a good chance the fight doesn’t even make it that far, and that’s why Issa is a big underdog in this fight. Issa is a decorated grappler but I think Sasaki is even better on the the mat. We saw Issa lose by submission in his UFC debut to Doane and I think Sasaki has the grappling skills to do that again, and I feel he can get the submission early in the fight. The line is high at -485 but I feel like Sasaki is worthy of being put into parlays. I also lean towards UNDER 1.5 rounds at +125 as I see Sasaki getting an early stoppage in this one.
