Best MMA Bets for the Week of July 31st

If you thought the week after UFC 291 was going to be slow for our MMA column, you couldn’t be more wrong. The first weekend of August is kicking off with a bang as we have eight shows scheduled for a jam-packed week of fights.

As usual, we’re turning to the top MMA betting sites for odds on these events. You will find our best MMA bets below, including some potential parlay cards to place at sites like Bovada.

MMA Bets on PFL 7: 2023 Playoffs

August 4th at 4:00 PM ET

Quick Rundown

• Bubba Jenkins to win main event
• Josh Silviera and Thad Jean are top picks
• The best upset bet is Marthin Hamlet

Both main-event featherweight fighters are 21-6, but it’s clear that Bubba Jenkins will put Jesus Pinedo away. He’s on a two-fight winning streak, avenging one of his only career losses to Chris Wade. Pinedo has struggled against lower-level fighters and also has a suspect chin with three career knockout losses, including one in just nine seconds.

Our biggest favorites of the night include light heavyweight Josh Silveira and welterweight Thad Jean, both with -400 or better odds. Jean is undefeated at 5-0 and the strongest MMA bet of the card. Silveira lost a decision last August, but his last two first-round wins are a reminder of how dangerous he is on his best nights.

It may surprise you to see our five upset picks at PFL 7. Many of these MMA bets are razor close. We think featherweight Chris Wade will hand Gabriel Braga his first loss, likely by decision. However, our top bet is Marthin Hamlet. This light-heavyweight upset over Impa Kasanganay should come by submission.

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Josh Silveira on his journey from Challenger Series to 2022 PFL Semifinalist

[ BY2B @nxtlvlbrands | #PFLonFuboTV ] pic.twitter.com/VCfuLrLxIc

Kasanganay is a far smaller fighter, coming up from middleweight earlier in his career, while Hamlet has repeatedly surprised us with his improvements. Now on a three-fight winning streak, the once-green Hamlet looks like he’s coming into his own in terms of technical capability.

MMA Bets on LFA 164

August 4th at 11:00 PM ET

Quick Rundown

• Sabina Mazo to win first fight out of UFC
• Koery Windham a top value MMA bet
• Livio Ribeiro and Ricky Maynez other top bets

After losing three straight in the UFC, Sabina Mazo drops to the LFA main event to face Sandra Lavado, who is a submission artist with a recent loss to the very-similar Shanna Young. Mazo is a better striker by far, and there is a clear power difference between the two in this flyweight title match.

Our top bet of the night, is former Division II wrestler Koery Windham. Now 1-0, he’s facing a debuting pro with no wrestling background and even less combat sports experience in Travis Arrellano. Windham, welterweight, won his pro debut with a one-minute TKO and has two amateur wins from 2019 and 2022.

Livio Ribeiro, 2-0 out of Brazil, is training at the MMA Lab alongside Dagestani grapplers and multiple UFC athletes. The flyweight was a high-level competitor at IBJJF and is taking his first fight in the USA against a 1-2 Ricardo Ramirez. This should be quick, as Ramirez has multiple losses via submission.

Ricky Maynez is our LFA upset, an 0-2 fighter facing a debuting Jeremy Alba. Mayez was an amateur champion, and his rough start as a pro doesn’t speak to his overall ability.

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MMA Bets on Urijah Faber’s A-1 Combat 13

August 4th at 9:00 PM ET

Quick Rundown

• Bet on Jeff Creighton
• Enoch McCottrell is a top MMA bet of the week
• Expect the Abdikabyl Kaldar upset

This show is an interesting battle of journeyman fighters. The main event pits Jeff Creighton (7-2-1) against Ozzie Alvarez (10-9) in a welterweight title fight. A submission-centered athlete, Creighton struggles with superior grapplers. Alvarez has never been submitted, but he’s lost his fair share of decisions by being pushed up against the fence. 

MMA bets on bamtamweights Enoch McCottrell and Arturo Burgos are easy wins. Burgos has a strong reach advantage and several impressive wins. He’ll put on a show and likely get the finish.

Enoch is a 5-0 amateur making his pro debut. He’s coming off a 15-second knockout and, his six-year evolution since his first fight, shows us just how much of a student of the game this young man is.

4-1 bamtamweight Abdikabyl Kaldar joins us from Kazakhstan after winning four straight bouts, with three via submission. His opponent, Cristhian Rivas, is a step up in competition, but Rivas lost his only fight outside of Ecuador’s local competition.

MMA Bets on DWCS Week 1 (2023)

August 3rd at 6:00 PM ET

Quick Rundown

• Also booked as Contender Series 2023: Week 1
• Cesar Almeida beat Alex Periera in 2013, but it doesn’t matter now
• Tom Nolan to win for top payout

There are three undefeated fighters on this card, including middleweight Cesar Almeida, lightweight Tom Nolan, and bantamweight Payton Talbott. We’re only betting on one of them. Almeida is the main event against Lucas Fernando (9-1), who is a serious favorite.

With a 70% finishing rate, Fernando has crushed the LFA rankings and shot straight to this UFC opportunity. At 35, Almeida is primarily a kickboxer. He’s 1-2 against Alex Periera way back in 2013, but his ground work leaves plenty to be desired.

We’re very excited about Tom Nolan and his payout. At only 23, he’s been fighting for seven years and has seen three straight TKO wins. His opponent, Bodgan Grad, is a very talented striker and snappy submission artist.

However, at nearly 35 years old, he’s giving up plenty of youth to the young prospect. We were unable to confirm Bogdan’s exact age.

MMA Bets on ONE Friday Fights 27

August 4th at 11:30 AM ET 

The majority of this card is Muay Thai and very few bets are available on any platform as of publication. Our only bet is Tyson Harrison, as foreigners continue to take wins over historic Thai champs.

Check for updated odds at our preferred sports betting sites to appear on or before this Friday.

MMA Bets on ONE Fight Night 13

August 4th at 8:00 PM ET

Quick Rundown

• Mixed card includes BJJ, Muay Thai and MMA
• Chingiz Allazov and Mikey Muscimeci are top bets
• Marcus Buchecha is another parlay addition

If you’re building a parlay ticket, taking bantamweight Mikey Musumeci over champion Jared Brooks is the strongest bet of the weekend. Brooks is a great grappler and a flyweight champ at ONE, but Musumeci has looked unstoppable in no-gi BJJ over the past year.

Lightweight Chingiz Allazov beat Superbon Singha Mawynn back in January, and rarely loses by anything other than a decision to the best competition. Marat Grigorian was outclassed by Superbon in 2022, and nothing about his last ten showings says that he can win a decision against Allazov.

Marcus Buchecha is now 4-0 in MMA after being a reigning BJJ champion for nearly a decade. His fight against Oumar Kane will be a test of his wrestling skills against a top striker, but I would be amazed if Kane makes it out of the first round.

ARTE SUAVE É COM ELE! ����⁰⁰13 vezes campeão mundial de jiu-jitsu e com três vitórias por finalização no MMA, Marcus Buchecha é um pesadelo para os lutadores que não dominam a luta no solo! �� pic.twitter.com/h4RzivE8wW

— Combate (@combate) July 31, 2023

MMA Bets on UFC Fight Night Sandhagen vs Font

August 5th at 8:00 PM ET

Quick Rundown

• Cory Sandhagen to win the main event
• Jessica Andrade for top upset bet
• Billy Quarantillo is our top value money line

We see bantamweight Cory Sandhagen as a fighter who consistently gets better and, at 31 years old, may just now be hitting his prime. Rob Font showed us he’s not to be underestimated against Adrian Yanez back in April, but this fight is more akin to the Marlon Vera and Jose Aldo levels of competition. At 36 years old, Font will struggle to keep up. He is also stepping in for the injured Umar Nurmagomedov. This fight is at a catchweight on 140 pounds.

Our second biggest upset call of the weekend goes to strawweight Jessica Andrade. She enters this weekend with consecutive losses and will take on Tatiana Suarez.

Suarez is a TUF winner. She defied our expectations in beating Alexa Grasso and she out-wrestled Carla Esparza. This is clearly her last fight before a title show, but Andrade is a special kind of grappler, and one that has moments of brilliance that are difficult to predict. We’re not betting the house on this upset, but it’s one to add to your value betting ticket.

Featherweight Billy Quarantillo is our top value bet. He’s lost to strikers like Edson Barboza and Shane Burgos, but his opponent, Damon Jackson, is primarily a grappler. We think this will be a battle of grapplers.

While Quarantillo doesn’t have the same submission rate, he has a superior takedown and control strategy, doing more damage on the ground and in the clench overall.

MMA Bets on WNO 19

August 10th at 6:00 PM ET

Quick Rundown

• This card is all grappling
• Haisam Rida biggest upset of the week
• Helena Crevar a top parlay addition

This card is next week but takes place before most MMA sites will get their odds out for shows next weekend. Watch WNO 19 on Wednesday, August 10th.

Nicholas Meregali should beat former ADCC champ Kaynan Duarte, if only by a small margin. Conservative bettors should look to the Over 10 minutes bet, considering Duarte is known for his stalling out style.

Ffion Davies looks unstoppable, and if we wanted to make a little more cash off this bet, we’d consider the Under 10 minutes, +160 bet on Davies to beat Jasmine Rocha by submission. Parlay both positions for a 1.9x return on your bet.

We think Haisam Rida beats the seemingly-invincible Felipe Pena. Pena cracked under Gordan Ryan’s athleticism and this is the first camp that the gigantic Rida has been at B-Team for 100% of the time. This is our biggest upset bet of the week.

Cornered by Danaher and Gordon Ryan, Helena Crevar takes the mat!#FPI4pic.twitter.com/9tZqPhjalN

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) June 30, 2023

Making a parlay ticket out of this entire card could be interesting. Helena Crevar is an easy top pick, beating world champs as a blue belt. Additions like Andrew Tackett and the Ben Eddy and Ethan Crelinsten upsets will leave you with a hefty payout.

Play Across Multiple Cards for Best Results

You can make high confidence bets across every card this weekend for best results. Parlay tickets using WNO top bets, like Helena Crevar and ONE top bets like Muscimeci have the best chance of paying out. UFC Fight Night Sandhagen vs Font and PFL Week 7 are showing the best chances at upset MMA bets.