Cub Swanson vs. Hakeem Dawodu Betting Analysis and Prediction

The future UFC Hall of Famer is back in the octagon for one of the most interesting upcoming UFC fights this weekend. The great Cub Swanson is set to face Hakeem Dawodu in the UFC APEX on Saturday night to set the table for the Luque vs Dos Anjos main event.

Read further for a complete breakdown of this exciting matchup. Along with the official Swanson vs Dawodu betting prediction, before making your bets this weekend. 

Cub Swanson vs Hakeem Dawodu

Location of the fight: UFC APEX, Las Vegas, NV.

Date and Time: Saturday, August 12. 10:00 PM ET main card start

How to Watch: ESPN+

Swanson is looking to bounce back from a TKO loss to Jonathan Martinez last October. 

Dawodu hasn’t been in the octagon since suffering a unanimous decision loss to Julian Erosa last September. 

Swanson is one of the most important MMA fighters for the growth of the sport in the past 20 years. At age 39, Swanson has accumulated a professional record of 28-13 with 13 KOs and four submissions. With one of the most exciting styles that MMA has seen, Swanson has 10 “performance of the night” bonuses stretching over his WEC and UFC career. 

Since dropping out of title contention back in 2015 after losing to Edgar and Holloway, Swanson has been fighting for the passion. This has led him to be not as active as he grows his family over the last few years. So that’s a question mark around how he will perform this weekend.

The key to this fight might be wrestling for Swanson, as he averages 1.09 takedowns per 15 minutes in the octagon.

Dawodu is a Canadian MMA fighter with a professional record of 13-3-1 with seven KOs at the age of 32. His combat sports background comes from Muay Thai and kickboxing, holding a professional kickboxing record of 9-0 with seven KOs and an amateur Muay Thai record of 42-5 with 15 KOs. 

In the UFC, Dawodu averages an impressive 5.33 significant strikes landed and only 3.15 significant strikes absorbed per minute. Wrestling isn’t really part of his game plan, so Dawodu has zero takedowns in the UFC and a 65% takedown defense. 

No injuries have been reported to the UFC. 

For the most accurate Swanson vs Dawodu betting prediction, we have to preview all the betting lines to see which bet to make for Saturday night. 

According to UFC odds, Swanson is coming in as the +180 underdog. Dawodu is the betting favorite at -210. The over/under is set even at 2.5 rounds, with the fight being at +115 to make it to the scorecards. 

Swanson is +450 to win inside the distance, and Dawodu is +110 to do the same. The oddsmakers take into account the trend of aging UFC fighters losing to younger fighters as their careers wind down.

This is truly a young man’s game, and someone in their prime has a better chance of winning than a man that isn’t very active and pushing 40 years old.

On the technical side of this matchup, Swanson brings a very tricky MMA style of fighting, going up against more of a traditional Muay Thai style that Dawodu brings. Dawodu has a solid 6-3 record in the UFC, but he hasn’t looked very impressive in his last few fights.

The wrestling of Cub Swanson could be the key to winning for the battle-tested veteran of the sport. Dawodu has trouble with wrestlers and especially guys who can have good timing on their takedowns. 

Swanson has a wacky style where he can hit opponents from unorthodox positions and also can land takedowns with perfect timing. 

Making UFC picks for fights like this will always be the toughest thing to do in all of sports betting. The age gap, the experience, the different styles; these are all factors that make a matchup like this so impossible to predict.

• Even though betting trends are screaming to go one way, the official Swanson vs Dawodu betting prediction is that Swanson gets his hand raised in a big upset victory for him.

The unorthodox movement and style of Swanson are going to be too much for Dawodu to get the hang of in 15 minutes.

As long as Swanson checks leg kicks and mixes in level changes, he’s going to be able to get the job done. Hopefully, he can end his career on a card with a packed live audience after this weekend.

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