We recently had a look at the upcoming UFC 251 card which will be held on UFC Fight Island on July 11/12. Our previous blog looked at the fight odds and focused on the main event for the Welterweight Championship match between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns. 
This time, we are going to look at the undercard for the big UFC 251 show which will feature four bouts in the lead up to the Usman versus Gilbert title fight. These four fights do not include the eight additional bouts that will be contested on the early prelims and prelims cards.
The main card features two title fights in addition to Usman and Gilbert. Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway will do battle for the belt while the vacant Bantamweight belt will be awarded to the winner of the Petr Yan versus Jose Aldo bout.
UFC 251 main fight card
It is worth noting that since we published our initial blog on UFC 251, the odds for the fights have changed. In some ways, like for the Usman versus Burns fight, significantly. Here is a look at the updated odds.
- Welterweight title fight: Kamaru Usman (c) (-250) vs. Gilbert Burns (+200)
- Featherweight title fight: Alexander Volkanovski (c) (-200) vs. Max Holloway (+170)
- Bantamweight: Peter Yan (-250) vs. Jose Aldo (+200)
- Women’s Strawweight: Jessica Andrade (+162) vs. Rose Namajunas (-188)
- Women’s Flyweight: Amanda Ribas (-800) vs. Paige Zanvant (+550)
Featherweight title fight: Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. Max Holloway
Australian fighter Volkanovski takes a 22-1 mixed martial arts record into the title fight at UFC 251. The bout between Volkanovski and Holloway is a rematch from their UFC 245 showdown. That fight took place in December of 2019 with Volkanovski picking up a unanimous decision to win the Featherweight belt from Holloway.
Since joining UFC, Volkanovski is 8-0 and has been on a path of rage. It should be noted that five of his eight UFC bouts ended in unanimous decisions, so there is the issue of him being unable to put opponents away. With just three submission wins in this career, don’t expect Volkanovski to get Holloway to tap out.
Holloway is 21-5 in MMA and suffered two losses in his last three UFC bouts. This could be his last high-profile fight in the promotion due to the recent losses. He too hasn’t fought since losing the belt to Volkanovski in December last year.
Holloway’s last three bouts all went to decision. He isn’t great at submission fighting with just two wins claimed from submission. Just once has Holloway tapped out in 26 career MMA bouts.
Both fighters want to stand and punch or ground and pound rather than grapple and get opponents to submit.
Volkanovski did say he would defeat Holloway in under five rounds. Although you may fancy taking a KO/TKO result, it may be worth it to take the decision. These fighters went the distance the last time they met.
If you don’t like the odds for the outright win or to win via decision (+125), you could always take Volkanovski to win by submission (+1,400). The odds for a submission win for either fight shows just how much these guys depend on their punch and standing work.
Winner: Alexander Volkanovski by unanimous decision
Note – UPDATE of Line Reversals and UFC was added:
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