Best Bets: UFC Vegas 71

The Fight Analyst keeps his winning ways going at UFC 285 (2-1 overall). He will look to keep that momentum going this weekend at UFC Las Vegas.

The UFC will be making its debut at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada for this stacked fight night card. We have two of the best in the men’s bantamweight division going at it in #2 Petr Yan and #3 Merab Dvalishvili.

The rest of this fight card is littered with elite and up-and-coming talent, and it is one to watch out for. With that said, let’s take a look at the Best Bets for UFC Vegas 71.

Tony Gravely vs. Victor Henry

In the men’s bantamweight division, we have a fight between two veterans in the sport in Tony Gravely and Victor Henry.

Gravely comes into this matchup with a hard-fought loss against a rising contender in Javid Basharat. He looked good early in the contest until Basharat just turned it up a notch in the later going in that fight. Of his 23 wins, 13 have come inside the distance which is split between 10 knockouts and three submissions.

Henry came into his UFC debut with 26 professional fights and beat the toughest opposition of his career in Raoni Barcelos. We then saw in his next fight against Raphael Assuncao that the fight against Barcelos was surely an outlier. Of his 22 wins, 14 have come inside the distance split between eight knockouts and six submissions.

Both of these two fighters are very well-rounded but Gravely is just a bit better everywhere. Henry may have the slight volume advantage but we’ve seen him slow down mightily against slow, flat-footed Assuncao. Also, we have seen Henry get taken down and controlled for 29% of the fight, which doesn’t bode well against a Division 1 wrestler in Gravely. Expect the fight to play out close on the feet until Gravely mixes in the takedowns and wears out Henry to a unanimous decision victory.

The Fight Analyst’s Pick
Tony Gravely To Win +119

Sedriques Dumas vs. Josh Fremd

In the middleweight division, we have a banger of a fight between Dana White’s Contender Series alumni Sedriques Dumas and Josh Fremd.

Dumas made quick work of his toughest adversary to date on the Contender Series against Matej Penaz via guillotine choke. He has a lot of hype surrounding his UFC debut and rightfully so, he is a 7-0 professional with six of his seven wins coming inside the distance and 8-1 as an amateur. The ceiling is high for the Pensacola native and he gets his most experienced fighter to date in Josh Fremd.

Fremd came into his UFC debut coming off a win at FAC 12 on an episode of Dana White Looking For A Fight. Things didn’t go so well as he got out grappled by a tough opponent in Anthony Hernandez on short notice. His next fight against Tresean Gore was even worse as he was submitted via guillotine choke in the second round. He will look to rebound and get his first win in over a year this weekend against Sedriques Dumas.

Fremd is coming into this fight on short notice yet again and is looking to right the ship against Dumas. He has looked dreadful in his limited amount of octagon time, not defending strikes or takedowns well at all which doesn’t bode well in this matchup. Dumas has shown he can finish fights on the feet and he can finish fights on the mat, and I don’t expect anything different in this one. Dumas finishes Fremd inside two rounds and gets his first win in the UFC.

The Fight Analyst’s Pick
Sedriques Dumas To Win -208

Alexandr Romanov vs. Alexander Volkov

In the Heavyweight division, we have a fight between two ranked competitors in Alexandr Romanov and Alexander Volkov.

Romanov is coming off the first loss of his career at the hands of Marcin Tybura. He was winning handily in round one before he gassed out and ultimately lost a majority decision. Of his 16 wins, 15 have come inside the distance split between five knockouts and 10 submissions.

Volkov is coming off an early knockout over Jairinzho Rozenstruik that made him look like the Volkov of old. He will be looking for his first winning streak since 2020-2021. Of his 35 wins, 23 have come by knockout.

We can expect to see a better version of Romanov in this fight against Volkov. Volkov doesn’t have the grappling pedigree Tybura has so if Romanov is able to attempt takedowns he will land them. Ultimately, Romanov will trade a bit with Volkov on the feet until he takes him down and pounds him out for a TKO finish.

The Fight Analyst’s Pick
Alexandr Romanov To Win -150