The Target Center in Minneapolis will host 26 of the top MMA fighters on Saturday for UFC on ESPN 3. No. 2 heavyweight Francis Ngannou will take on No. 3 Junior dos Santos in one of the main events, while No. 1 flyweight Jussier Formiga will face No. 2 Joseph Benavidez in the other. It’s a loaded 13-fight slate, with the main UFC on ESPN 3 card beginning at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Ngannou comes into UFC Fight Night with a sparkling 13-3 record, while dos Santos is 21-5. Vegas has listed Ngannou as the -250 favorite (risk $250 to win $100), with dos Santos at +210 (risk $100 to win $210) in the latest Ngannou vs. dos Santos odds. Meanwhile, Formiga is the -175 favorite in the latest Formiga vs. Benavidez odds. Before you make any Ngannou vs. dos Santos picks, be sure to see the UFC on ESPN 3 predictions from SportsLine’s resident MMA expert, Kyle Marley.
Marley won the first-ever “ToutMaster” UFC betting contest sponsored by MMAOddsBreaker and is currently in first place in this year’s competition. Marley also appears regularly on multiple MMA betting and daily Fantasy shows. He watches every single fight for every single UFC card and does extensive research before each event.
Over the past year, $100 bettors who have followed Marley’s picks are up more than $22,000. It’s an astonishing cash rate that shows the depth of Marley’s knowledge. Just last week at UFC Fight Night 154, Marley posted a 9-2 record to return a profit of nearly $900 in one night. His winning selections included big underdog winners on Randy Brown (+230) against Bryan Barberena (-270) and he also accurately predicted Molly McCann (+240) upsetting Ariane Lipski (-280). Anyone who has followed Marley’s advice is up huge.
Now, with UFC on ESPN 3 fast approaching, Marley has carefully studied every matchup on the 12-fight UFC Minneapolis card, identified the best values in the UFC odds and released his MMA picks for every single fight. He’s sharing those selections only over at SportsLine.
Marley knows the bout represents a turning point in the careers of both heavyweights, who are aiming to return to title contention. Both came up short in title bouts against Miocic, the former champ who has since lost the belt to Daniel Cormier.
Ngannou, 32, is considered perhaps the hardest puncher in UFC history. The knockout artist was widely viewed as a superstar in the making before he was outclassed by Miocic in their January 2018 fight. He suffered another setback against Derrick Lewis, but has since won two bouts by knockout. He stopped former champion Cain Velasquez in February.
Dos Santos, 35, has one of the most well-rounded skill sets in the heavyweight division. He won the UFC heavyweight belt by stopping Velasquez in November 2011, but lost in a rematch the following year. He was stopped by Miocic in their May 2017 title bout, but has since won three straight. He scored a technical knockout of Lewis in March. You can only see Marley’s dos Santos vs. Ngannou picks at SportsLine.
One of the UFC Minneapolis picks we can share: Marley is backing Amanda Ribas to pull the outright upset as a +150 underdog against Emily Whitmire. Ribas was suspended two years by USADA for a failed drug test, but had her sentence overturned a month early when it was revealed that the positive test was the result of a contaminated supplement.
Now, she’s back and gets to make her UFC debut after a nearly two-year wait. Ribas is 6-1 in her career, with five of those wins coming via stoppages in the first six minutes of the fight. She’ll be hungry to prove that she belongs in the promotion on Saturday at UFC Fight Night: Ngannou vs. dos Santos. “Ribas can be the fighter pushing forward and, if she can land takedowns, she could lock up a submission,” Marley told SportsLine. “She could also use takedowns to steal close rounds.”
Marley also has strong picks for Dos Santos vs. Ngannou, Benavidez vs. Formiga and every other bout on the stacked UFC on ESPN 3 card. You can see them exclusively at SportsLine.
Who wins Dos Santos vs. Ngannou? And how exactly does each fight end? Visit SportsLine now to get detailed picks on all 12 fights at UFC on ESPN 3, all from the incomparable expert who’s up more than $22,000 on MMA in the past year, and find out.
