UFC Vegas 50 takes place this Saturday at the APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card will be headlined by a five-round clash between top light-heavyweight contenders Thiago Santos and Magomed Ankalaev.
In the co-main event of the evening, we have a crossroads fight between long-time bantamweight standout, Marlon Moraes, and Song Yadong, who at 24-years-old is one of the youngest ranked fighters in the UFC.
The UFC Vegas 50 undercard is stacked with fights such as Sodiq Yusuff vs. Alex Caceres, Alex Pereira vs. Bruno Silva and Drew Dober vs. Terrance McKinney.
Join LowKickMMA as we preview, predict, and hopefully win some money betting on UFC Vegas 50.
Thiago Santos vs. Magomed Ankalaev.
The main event for us is a really easy one to pick. Thiago Santos was once a great light-heavyweight, but his time has been and gone. The Brazilian knockout artist hasn’t looked the same since returning from the multitude of injuries he suffered in his split-decision defeat to Jon Jones in 2019.
‘Marreta’ got back in the win column last time out against Johnny Walker but looked gun shy while doing so against an opponent who has since gone on to get wiped out by Jamahal Hill inside one round. Betway appears to see what we see in this fight and have priced Santos as a massive 4.75 underdog.
This fight isn’t all about Santos being on the backend of his career. He’s still capable of beating a lot of good light-heavyweight fighters but Magomed Ankalaev is a class above most at 205lbs and is deserving of his 1.18 favourite tag. We’ll certainly be adding the Russian to our bet this weekend.
Marlon Moraes vs. Song Yadong
Another fighter who seems to be past his peak is Marlon Moraes who has been a force at bantamweight for years but is now riding a three-fight losing streak. The 33-year-old has been quickly stopped in all of his recent defeats. That’s certainly a worry heading into a fight against someone like Song Yadong, who is a fearsome puncher.
The bookmakers have Moraes a pretty big 3.10 underdog while Yadong is the 1.36 favourite. We wouldn’t totally write off the former WSOF champion but we also will not be backing against Yadong in this one.
Sodiq Yusuff vs. Alex Caceres
Sodiq Yusuff will be desperate to prove he belongs with the featherweight elite after falling short against Arnold Allen last time out.
With all due respect, anyone who has title aspirations should be getting by Alex Caceres, who despite putting together a good run of form is never going to be competing at that level.
Yusuff is a legit contender, and we expect him to prove why he is the 1.40 favourite in this fight by quickly taking out Caceres who is the 3.00 underdog at UFC Vegas 50.
Alex Pereira vs. Bruno Silva
Alex Pereira will be licking his lips heading into this fight.
The former Glory champion has an opponent who has openly expressed his desire to stand and bang in the hopes he’ll KO the kickboxing legend.
That’s simply not going to happen. Pereira is simply too good on the feet – that’s why he’s the 1.57 favourite in this fight.
Silva really should be shooting like his life depends on it. If he does turn wrestler, he’s got a chance of cashing as the 2.40 underdog.
We don’t think he’s the man to derail Pereira’s hype train though and we’ll certainly be backing ‘Po Atan’ to pick up his second UFC win on Saturday night.