The first fight of the Netflix MVP MMA Main Card features a Heavyweight contest between former UFC Champion Junior dos Santos vs. Robelis Despaigne. This is dos Santos’ first MMA fight since May 2022, with his last fight in combat sports coming in March 2024. After leaving the UFC in October 2024, Despaigne went to Karate Combat, where he had a 7-0 record with six knockouts.
Check out my prediction for Junior dos Santos vs. Robelis Despaigne taking place at tonight’s Netflix MMA MVP.
Robelis Despaigne Round 1 (-135)
Despaigne is 5-2 with five knockouts in his MMA career and last fought in the sport in October 2024. He competed in the UFC in 2024, going 1-2 in the organization. Before that, Despaigne began his MMA career with five consecutive victories.
Dos Santos last competed in Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA in 2024, where he scored a TKO win over Alan Belcher. He has lost his last five MMA fights, with his most recent victory in MMA coming against Derrick Lewis in March 2019.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Despaigne is a -345 favorite with dos Santos as a +275 underdog. This fight has an over/under of 1.5 rounds, with the under at -238 and the over at +180.
In this contest, Despaigne has a massive seven-inch reach advantage (84″ vs. 77″) while being three inches taller (6’7″ vs. 6’4″) than dos Santos. Since Despaigne has a big edge in reach, it should allow him to find success on the feet against dos Santos. If Despaigne comes out as aggressive as he has been in Karate Combat, it is unlikely Dos Santos will be able to hang in there with him.
