UFC San Antonio Odds: Best Bets Of The Week

The UFC is coming off a great PPV event, UFC 286 which was live in London, England. We saw Leon Edwards retain his welterweight championship against his rival Kamaru Usman in the last installment of their trilogy. On tap, for this weekend the UFC takes their talents to San Antonio, Texas where two of the best bantamweight contenders in the UFC, #3 Marlon Vera and #5 Cory Sandhagen go to battle to attempt to put their names in the mix for a title shot at UFC San Antonio.

The main event pits two surging bantamweight contenders looking to get the next shot at the undisputed champion Aljamain Sterling. Marlon Vera (22-7-1) has taken the long road to get recognized by the UFC brass. He went from poverty to fighting for pennies in Ecuador, to fighting on The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America to now headlining fight nights. He is currently riding a four-fight winning streak with his most recent win being a knockout of former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.

Cory Sandhagen (15-4) may not have needed to go through the same type of gauntlet to be where he is now but is most definitely worthy of it. He has fought and beaten the who’s who of the bantamweight division. Sandhagen most recently beat Yadong Song by TKO (doctor stoppage) which set him up for a big payday against the very dangerous Marlon “Chito” Vera.

This fight night in San Antonio, Texas has a ton of exciting fights littered with UFC vets and up-and-coming prospects alike. With that said, let’s take a look at the best bets of the week for this weekend’s fight night event, UFC San Antonio.

Here are the UFC Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

UFC Odds: UFC San Antonio Best Bets

Manel Kape: -205

Preston Parsons: -113

Albert Duraev: +142

*Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why Manel Kape Will Win

Manel Kape (18-6) was one of the top men’s flyweight prospects coming into his UFC debut. The UFC brass had a ton of praise for him that they had him be the backup to one of the Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo fights just in case something happened to one of them.

In his very first fight, he debuted against one of the best fighters in the division Alexandre Pantoja. He took him to a very close decision meanwhile, after that fight Pantoja finished his next two opponents. Kape is currently riding a three-fight winning streak finishing two of his three opponents and is looking to make it four in a row when he takes on former title contender Alex Perez (24-7).

Perez has had some bad luck over the years, only fighting once over the last three years due to various injuries and fighters pulling out of fights. He also doesn’t look like the same fighter that once fought for the flyweight title. Meanwhile, Kape is looking like the title contender the UFC thought he was coming into his debut.

As long as Kape lets his hands go, expect his explosiveness and his power to be the difference-maker in this fight. He should either get a dominant decision win as he did against David Dvorak or get the finish inside two rounds.

Why Preston Parsons Will Win

Preston Parsons (10-3) will be making his third walk to the octagon when he takes on Trevin Giles (15-4) in a welterweight matchup. Things didn’t go as planned in his short-notice debut fight against Daniel Rodriguez who knocked him out in the first round. He was able to get back on track and show his well-rounded skillset in his next fight against Evan Elder.

Parsons is an absolute workhorse when he is in the octagon, whether it is on the feet or on the mat he is always working and making his opponent defend. That should bode well against a more methodical Trevin Giles. Giles also has shown a well-rounded skillset but he just doesn’t push the pace in his fights as we saw in one of the most boring fights you will ever watch against Louis Cosce.

While Giles still has skills inside the octagon, it is hard to see him beat someone that will make him work for the full 15 minutes. Expect Parsons to push a crazy pace on Giles, having him defend takedowns and ultimately just wearing him out for a unanimous decision victory.

Why Albert Duraev Will Win

Albert Duraev alumnus of Dana White’s Contender Series has split his first two fights inside the octagon. He is a very grapple-heavy fighter that loves to smash his opponents on the mat to either a TKO or submission victory. Things didn’t go so well in his most recent fight against Joaquin Buckley ultimately losing via doctor stoppage in between rounds.

He gets a matchup against a dangerous striker in Chidi Njokuani who’s been absolutely dangerous in his first three fights with the promotion. He has scored two knockouts and almost a third in those fights, but he ultimately was knocked out in his most recent bout against Gregory Rodrigues.

Even though he is as dangerous as he is, he has shown some pretty big gaping holes in his defensive grappling in his limited amount of work in the UFC. That doesn’t bode well for him in this matchup against Duraev who will be attempting takedowns as if they are going out of style. Expect things to be a little dicey on the feet in the beginning until Duraev gets within range, takes him down, and ground and pounds him into oblivion.