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In a middleweight bout serving as the co-main event of UFC 254, #1 Robert Whittaker will take on #2 Jared Cannonier this Saturday live from Fight Island in Abu Dhabi and available on pay-per-view through ESPN+.
Whittaker comes in with the higher rank, and has a 22-5 MMA record and a 12-3 UFC record. With multiple top-ten victories, Whittaker’s only blemish over the last half-decade is a title loss to current champion Israel Adesanya.
More comfortable as a striker, he averages 4.51 significant strikes per minute, landing 40 percent of his attempts. On the flip side, he absorbs just 3.43 and deflects 61 percent of them. With just .46 takedowns per 15 minutes, Whittaker will want this bout fought upright.
That’ll be perfectly fine with his opponent Cannonier as well, who is coming off a victory over #4 Jack Hermansson. Cannonier has just a few losses in the past four years, but they were all to light heavyweight fighters.
On the strike-heavy side as well, “The Killa Gorilla” averages 3.72 significant strikes per minute and lands 51 percent of them, absorbing 2.82 per minute. Having transitioned down to middleweight, this is the fight he needs to win for a shot at Adesanya, one of the few opponents the champion has yet to face. In his 17 career fights, Cannonier holds an average fight time of eight minutes and ten seconds.
With two fighters that love to strike and typically get finishes, this one won’t be expected to go the distance.
Here are the betting odds at DraftKings Sportsbook for Robert Whittaker vs. Jared Cannonier at UFC 254 on October 24th.
Money line odds
Robert Whittaker: -104
Jared Cannonier: -120
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