Can Strickland stand up to Cannonier’s power?

Zane Simon & Connor Ruebusch are back to break down the latest UFC event in Las Vegas, NV. With picks and odds for every fight on the card. From Jared Cannonier vs. Sean Strickland in the main event down to Sergey Morozov vs. Journey Newson in the opening prelims.

The final UFC fight card of the year is shaping up to be a really fun one. The main event features a showdown between top-ranked middleweights Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland, with a fantastic lightweight bout between Arman Tsarukyan and Damir Ismagulov in the co-main. Drew Dober vs. Bobby Green & Alex Caceres vs. Julian Erosa help round out a main card that should be all action all the way through.

For fans interested in diving deeper into the undercard, check out the Prelims Vivi below.

June M. Williams

The MMA Vivisection is brought to you by ‘The Fine Art of Violence’, a collection of art and essays recapping the year in MMA by Chris Rini, featuring the most talented artists and writers in Mixed Martial Arts. The book is available in both hard copy and digital formats at chrisrini.com.

Here’s a look at the UFC Vegas 66 fight card as it stood at the time of recording:

ESPN+ MAIN CARD | 7pm/4pm ET&PT
Jared Cannonier vs. Sean Strickland — At 3:40, Odds 22:11, Picks, Zane: Cannonier, Connor: Strickland
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Damir Ismagulov — At 22:27, Odds 37:41, Picks, Both: Ismagulov
Amir Albazi vs. Alessandro Costa — At 39:21, Odds 50:04, Picks, Both: Albazi
Alex Caceres vs. Julian Erosa — At 50:38, Odds 1:01:06, Picks, Both: Erosa
Drew Dober vs. Bobby Green — At 1:03:13, Odds 1:13:33, Picks, Both: Dober
Michal Oleksiejczuk vs. Cody Brundage — At 1:13:46, Odds 1:19:54, Picks, Both: Oleksiejczuk

ESPN+ PRELIMS | 4pm/1pm ET&PT
Cheyanne Vlismas vs. Cory McKenna — At 0:49, Odds 13:58, Picks, Both: Vlismas
Jake Matthews vs. Matthew Semelsberger — At 14:38, Odds 26:54, Picks, Both: Matthews
Julian Marquez vs. Deron Winn — At 27:21, Odds 39:59, Picks, Both: Marquez
Said Nurmagomedov vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov — At 40:15, Odds 50:48, Picks, Zane: Nurmagomedov, Connor: Kakhramonov
Rafa Garcia vs. Hayisaer Maheshate — At 51:05, Odds 1:01:04, Picks, Zane: Maheshate, Connor: Garcia
Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Bryan Battle — At 1:01:25, Odds 1:06:53, Picks, Both: Fakhretdinov
Manel Kape vs. David Dvo?ák — At 1:08:07, Odds 1:15:25, Picks, Both: Kape
Sergey Morozov vs. Journey Newson — At 1:15:40, Odds 1:20:14, Picks, Both: Morozov

For those of you following the picks made on the show, we started tracking them with the July 13th, 2020 Vivisection shows for UFC Fight Island 1: ‘Kattar vs. Ige’. So far, here are the overall standings:

• For our last event, UFC 282 ‘Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev’: Zane picked 8/10 for 80% and Connor picked 7/10 for 70%. (They skipped picking the Shahbazyan-Lungiambula bout, da Silva-Salvador was cancelled, as well as OSP-Trócoli, and the main event was a Split Draw – leaving the title vacant – which is why the stats only include 10 bouts for UFC 282.)
• Overall stats from UFC Fight Island 1 in July, 2020, through UFC 282 in Dec, 2022: Zane is now at 792/1229 for 64.45% and Connor is now at 747/1229 for 60.78%
• Jan-Present 2022: Zane is at 322/492 for 65.45% and Connor is at 305/492 for 62.00%
• Jan-Dec 2021: Zane went 305/493 for 65% and Connor went 285/493 for 59%
• July-Dec 2020: Zane went 164/244 for 67% and Connor went 157/244 for 64%
  Reference: Vivi Picks Stats_12.15.22.pdf

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