One of the prelims at UFC Fight Night 67 is a three-round featherweight bout between Mirsad Bektic and Lucas Martins. According to the current betting lines available at Several Bookmakers, Bektic is a -360 favorite (bet $360 to win $100) while Martins is a +300 underdog (bet $100 to win $300). MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened up Bektic at -245 and Martins at +175, and money is coming in on the favorite Bektic. I agree with the money coming in on Bektic as I expect him to continue his unbeaten streak with a win over Martins. Here’s why. Bektic (9-0) is one of the top featherweight prospects in the UFC. The 24-year-old Bosnian-American is 2-0 in the UFC with a pair of decision wins over Paul Redmond and Chas Skelly. With six finishes in nine career wins, Bektic is most certainly a guy who likes to finish fights, although since coming to the UFC he doesn’t have a stoppage. Training at American Top Team, Bektic is constantly improving. He is mostly known for his high-level wrestling and ground and pound attack, but his striking is improving as well. He also has the cardio to go three strong rounds. He hasn’t shown many flaws yet in the UFC and truly could be a top-10 fighter in a year’s time. The UFC clearly likes Bektic and has been building him up slowly before he takes the next step. And with a win over Martins this weekend, he’ll get a big step up in competition. Martins (15-2) is 3-2 in the UFC with stoppage wins over Alex White, Junior Hernandez and Jeremy Larsen with losses to Edson Barboza and Darren Elkins. The 26-year-old Brazilian is a very exciting fighter, and a true finisher. Out of his 15 career wins, 14 have come by stoppage, including 10 by knockout. He is a very good muay Thai fighter and is a dangerous opponent for anyone at 145lbs. It took Martins a while to find his true weight class but he seems to have finally settled on 145lbs, where he’s gone 1-1 with the loss to Elkins and the win over White. Martins is a talented striker but his defence is pretty weak and he can be tagged, as Barboza showed. He also has some cardio issues, a byproduct of cutting weight the wrong way. He’s a talented guy but he has some flaws in his game and a guy like Bektic, who is a top prospect, should be able to overcome his strengths, and that’s why you see the betting line the way it is. I do favor Bektic to get the win here. I believe he can replicate a gameplan similar to Elkins by pushing Martins up against the fence to negate his striking advantage and win a decision that way. He may have to survive some scary moments on the feet, but overall I’m pretty confident Bektic gets the job done. The price is obviously high now at -360, but he’s probably my most confident picks on the whole card and I wouldn’t hesitate to use him in a parlay.
