Best Bets To Win At UFC Fight Night: Zabit vs. Kattar

By BetOnline November 8, 2019

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship is headed back to Moscow, Russia for the second time in its history for the UFC Fight Night 163: Zabit vs. Kattar event on November 9^th. “The Boston Finisher” Kattar will go head-to-head with Magomedsharipov in a main event featherweight bout, while rising star Greg Hardy will clash with Alexander Volkov in a heavyweight bout co-main event. We took the time to analyze the card in order to identify the top smart money picks on the board for this upcoming fight card. Here is a look at the three best bets to win at UFC Fight Night: Zabit vs. Kattar.

ZABIT MAGOMEDSHARIPOV (17-1) VS. CALVIN KATTAR (20-3)
UFC ODDS: MAGOMEDSHARIPOV -285

Magomedsharipov was scheduled to fight Kattar on October 18th before he was forced to pull out of that fight because of an injury. Now that he is back healthy again, he will look to extend his impressive win streak of 13 in a row as a substantial favorite in this bout. An exceptionally well-rounded fighter that has averaged 6.23 takedowns per 15 minutes against his opponents in the UFC, Magomedsharipov has also landed more strikes than every one of his opponents since making the move to MMA’s top promotion.

After winning four of his last five, Kattar has earned the opportunity to fight Magomedsharipov and he could hold his own with him for a while. He’s won his last two bouts by knockout, turning the lights out on Ricardo Lamas and Chris Fishgold.

This is a matchup of two talented fighters and while I do expect Magomedsharipov to win, I think the price is a tad high here. Take the ‘goes the distance’ prop in this one as I think we’ll hit the judge’s scorecards.

PICK: FIGHT GOES THE DISTANCE

ALEXANDER VOLKOV (30-7) VS. GREG HARDY (5-1)
UFC ODDS: VOLKOV -265

Hardy was on his way to a third straight win in the UFC before his unanimous decision win over Ben Sosoli was overturned because he used an inhaler in between rounds two and three of their UFC on ESPN fight. Now, he will have a much tougher time picking up another victory as he faces a major step up in competition versus Volkov in this matchup. Hardy is now 2-1-1 in the UFC as they’ve mostly been feeding him cupcakes to build him up. He’s passed all of those tests, though, so he deserves credit.

His next opponent, Volkov, is 6-1 in his last seven fights coming off a last-second knockout loss to Derrick Lewis at UFC 229. The Moscow-native was probably en route to winning that fight prior to a mistimed knee late in the bout. Lewis then knocked him out just before the end of the fight. Now he returns home as a substantial favorite even though he’s been off for a long time.

Volkov had won six straight fights before losing to Lewis, including stoppage victories over Stefan Struve and Fabricio Werdum in his previous two bouts. While the value isn’t great, he should get back in the win column in front of his home country supporters against a much less experienced opponent in Hardy. This just feels like a huge step up in competition for Hardy – one that he won’t be able to manage – and he’ll probably get beaten up.

PICK: VOLKOV

KHADIS IBRAGIMOV (8-1) VS. ED HERMAN (24-14)

Herman is a veteran of the fight game as he’s been in the UFC for 13 years. That type of longevity is rare. He’s never really been a super dynamic athlete but he’s crafty. Recently, hand speed and just having that UFC experience has been enough to make him competitive. He’s fresh off a much-needed win over Patrick Cummins – a first-round knockout – which was much-needed for him. He had lost three in a row and six of nine before that, so it could have been the end of the line for the 39-year-old.

In this bout, he dodges Gadzhimurad Antigulov, who he was supposed to fight and instead takes on Ibragimov, who’ll be the short-notice injury replacement. The Russian, who will have the home crowd behind him, is still in the prospect phase of his career as he’s only fought once in the UFC. He lost that bout to Da Un Jung, getting choked out in the third round.

Ibragimov actually looked good in that bout but didn’t calculate his stamina properly. He was swinging for the fences early and ended up running out of gas late. That’s what led to the submission. The bet here is that he’s probably learned his lesson and will be more diligent in his second UFC fight.