UFC on ESPN+ 24: Blaydes vs. dos Santos Betting Preview

Junior dos Santos and Curtis Blaydes will square off in a heavyweight bout on Saturday. UFC Fight Night 166 will be featured at PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC. Being the first time that a UFC event is being held there, it should definitely be a good one.

Fight Night 166 Odds

If you wanted a fight with ridiculous knockout power from both sides, you are getting it from this event. Both of these guys have serious strength to put you on the mat. The odds for the main event are:

• Curtis Blaydes: -250
• Junior dos Santos: +200

Odds subject to change

The Fighters

Curtis “Razor” Blaydes is currently ranked third in the heavyweight division with a record of 11-2-0. Most of his wins so far, eight to be exact, have come by KO/TKO.

Blaydes has a striking accuracy of 51 percent and a grappling accuracy of 33 percent. According to his other stats, he usually finishes his fights in less than 10 minutes.

In Blaydes’ last fight, he completely dominated Shamil Abdurakhimov in what led to, you guessed it, a KO/TKO victory. Blaydes was very aggressive in his strategy and was able to really bring the fight to Abdurakhimov.

Junior “Cigano” dos Santos is currently ranked as the fourth-best fighter in the heavyweight division with a record of 21-5-0. His fighting resume tells us that 15 of those wins came by knockout in some form. He also has five wins that finished in the first round.

Dos Santos has a striking accuracy of 48 percent and a 56 percent grappling accuracy. Dos Santos, on average, usually can finish his fights in a little over 11 minutes. He is another fighter that likes to end his fights quickly.

Dos Santos’ last fight ended in a loss to Francis Ngannou. He pretty much handed that fight over. No offense to Ngannou, but if dos Santos had stayed true to his strategy, this possibly could have been a different outcome.

Fight Matchup

Blaydes stands at 6-4. He has a reach of 80 inches. His legs also reach out to 46 inches. He lands 3.71 signature strikes a minute and has a 25 percent takedown defense.

Dos Santos stands at 6-4. He has a reach of 77 inches. His legs reach out to 41 inches. He lands about 4.76 signature strikes a minute and has an 80 percent takedown defense.

Based on the fighters’ measurements, you can see that Blaydes has somewhat of an advantage in a few areas. He should be able to land kicks and punches from a distance if he needs to. Dos Santos does have a good defense.

Final Thoughts

For this matchup, I look for the event to hopefully last a few rounds. Both fighters clearly have the knockout power and strength that a lot of fighters wish they had. There is a reason that these two are headlining the event.

Dos Santos seems to have a competitive edge when it comes to a strategy. He clearly takes the time to study his opponents and make a game plan going forward.

With that being said, I believe the winner will be Blaydes. I believe Blaydes is going to come out aggressive and try to finish the fight early. I do not have as much faith in dos Santos since his last fight. He made a costly mistake that his opponent took advantage of to finish him off.

Blaydes has been improving after each fight. He has shown that he is determined to make his way to the top of the heavyweight division and make a name for himself.