Umar Nurmagomedov vs Bekzat Almakhan Prediction

insidersbettingdigest.com

01 March 2024

Umar Nurmagomedov vs Bekzat Almakhan Prediction

One of the most interesting upcoming UFC fights this weekend is this bantamweight bout between highly-touted Umar Nurmagomedov and Bekzat Almakhan, who is making his UFC debut. Is the risk higher than the reward for Nurmagomedov?

Nurmagomedov vs. Almakhan Picks

Pick: Almakhan +900.

scores and odds for the official Nurmagomedov vs Almakhan prediction ahead of placing any UFC bets this weekend.

Umar Nurmagomedov vs Bekzat Almakhan Information

Umar Nurmagomedov vs Bekzat Almakhan

Location of the fight: UFC APEX, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Date and Time: March 02, 2024.4 PM ET main card start

How to Watch: ESPN+

Last Fight Record

Nurmagomedov is making his return to the UFC fight schedule for the first time since his first-round KO win over Raoni Barcelos in January 2023.

Almakhan is making his UFC debut, coming off a third-round TKO win over Yan Ferraz in November at Octagon Promotion 52.

Umar Nurmagomedov vs Bekzat Almakhan Betting Analysis

Umar Nurmagomedov

Nurmagomedov is a Russian mixed martial artist with a professional record of 16-0, including 2 TKO/KO victories and 7 submissions under his belt at the age of 28. With much of the same upbringing as his cousin, former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, he has a Combat Sambo background. He won gold at the 2015 WCSF championships and won gold at the 2016 WMMAA world championships.

Nurmagomedov’s listing shows him as a 5’8” southpaw with a 69” reach. He averages a dominant 4.85 significant strikes landed to 0.73 significant strikes absorbed ratio in the octagon. On top of that, he averages 4.28 takedowns per 15 minutes and holds a perfect 100% takedown defense. These statistics make him arguably the most dominant fighter on the roster right now.

Bekzat Almakhan

Almakhan, a mixed martial artist from Kazakhstan, boasts a 14-1 record with 12 TKO/KO wins and 1 submission. He is making his UFC debut this weekend with not much information on him before signing with the company out there. He has headlined events in an organization called Octagon Promotion and hasn’t lost since 2020.

No statistics are available on Almakhan, but he is listed as a 5’7” bantamweight on Tapology but doesn’t have any other measurements on there. At 26 years old, he holds the #1 ranking as a bantamweight in Central Asia, according to Tapology.

Updates

The UFC and ESPN have not reported any injuries.

Umar Nurmagomedov vs Bekzat Almakhan Betting Preview

This is an odd matchup on paper and the Nurmagomedov vs Almakhan prediction is very interesting to make. We will need to preview the betting lines but try to understand why they look the way they do and also study film on both guys to see how their styles could clash.

According to the available UFC odds, Nurmagomedov is currently a -1300 betting favorite over the +900 Almakhan. The over 1.5 round total is favored at -200 odds, but this bout is favored to end inside the distance at -150 according to BetUS.

The betting lines are surprising. Nurmagomedov has been a massive favorite in every one of his UFC fights and Almakhan is making his debut, but this guy from Kazakhstan is no slouch. His past performances have shown him to be a very dangerous kickboxer from range and he has improved his wrestling defense a lot over the last few fights.

Nurmagomedov exhibits remarkable ground skills and an unmatched work rate. His training with his family and team at AKA is the best work you can get as a fighter right now and he clearly should be the favorite here.

Almakhan fights with a high pace and has very fast kicks in his arsenal that he uses to punish opponents to the body, arms, and legs–setting up for a devastating high kick to the head that has put multiple people to sleep.

Umar Nurmagomedov vs Bekzat Almakhan Best Bets

This is an awkward fight to bet on this weekend on the UFC schedule and to be honest, you wouldn’t be making a mistake avoiding it.

With that being said, the official Nurmagomedov vs Almakhan prediction is that Nurmagomedov will get his hand raised on Saturday afternoon and plead his case to get a top-ranked opponent next, even though no one wants to fight him.

Since this pick literally has zero value, it wouldn’t be a bad decision to throw extra money on Almakhan if you want to bet on this fight. He looks to be very skilled and dangerous with tons of speed in his hands and feet. Anything can happen in that UFC octagon and you might as well take a chance if you have the funds to comfortably do so.