UFC Best Bets: Yves Edwards’ Picks for UFC Fight Night: Yan vs. Dvalishvili on DraftKings Sportsbook

Former UFC fighter and current MMA coach Yves Edwards gives his picks on DraftKings Sportsbook for UFC Fight Night: Yan vs. Dvalishvili. The card begins on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Yves was one of the best lightweight fighters of his era and has over 20 UFC fights, including UFC bouts against former UFC champions Tony Ferguson and Matt Serra. Yves currently coaches UFC fighter Adrian Yanez and Bellator champion Raufeon Stots.

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Said Nurmagomedov vs. Jonathan Martinez

This is my pick for Fight of the Night. I think both of these men have a well-rounded MMA skillset, and the open stance they will fight from will have both men throwing power shots throughout the bout. I feel like Nurmagomedov throws high volume early and doesn’t do a lot of feeling out, while Martinez does more data collection and works off what his opponent brings to him. If this fight ends early, I think it will be Nurmagomedov, but if it goes late into the second or third round, the fight starts leaning toward Martinez. Nurmagomedov does have a really good guillotine choke, which is always a threat, and it comes out of nowhere. This one is tough for me to pick but I’m going to go with Nurmagomedov in a tough FOTN battle.

Pick: Said Nurmagomedov To Win By Decision

DraftKings Sportsbook odds: +130

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Ricardo Ramos vs. Austin Lingo

Ramos is going to try to keep distance and outstrip Lingo from the outside, while Lingo is going to plod forward and work to frustrate Ramos into tying up, giving Lingo the opportunity to fight in close. Ramos will look for his patented spinning elbow finish, entering and sometimes exiting from these in fighting scenarios, and may be able to do some damage with them. And though I’m a big fan of the spinning elbow KO, I doubt he’ll be getting his third KO via that technique in this one, but I do think he wins this fight by decision.

Pick: Ricardo Ramos To Win By Decision

DraftKings Sportsbook odds: +165

Editor’s Note: Ricardo Ramos vs. Austin Lingo is OFF the card as a result of Ramos missing weight, per the UFC.

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Nikita Krylov vs. Ryan Spann

While both men have the ability to knock out opponents, Spann has crazy power and more discipline in his defense behind his straight punches. His defenses start to fall apart when he throws combos beyond the 1-2, but on the other side of that, Krylov seems to have little to no defense when he goes on the offensive. If Krylov can turn this fight into a brawl, he makes this a 50/50 fight, and he has a better shot at getting the win. However, Spann stalks behind his best combo, the 1-2, and doesn’t often get drawn into a firefight. For those reasons, I’m picking Spann to win this fight by KO.

Pick: Ryan Spann To Win By KO/TKO/DQ

DraftKings Sportsbook odds: +300

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Alexander Volkov vs. Alexandr Romanov

This is the classic striker vs. grappler matchup, and there are four iterations of that matchup. This is the “grappler with very good takedown ability vs. the striker with poor takedown defense” version, so unless Volkov has amazingly improved his takedown defense, Romanov is going to beat on him like he’s insulted people would bet against him against a guy he’s about to ragdoll.

Pick: Alexander Romanov to Win by Any Knockout, Submission or DQ

DraftKings Sportsbook odds: +120

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Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili

The main event! Another version of striker vs. grappler, but both of these fighters have seen the highest level of the game—Yan as a former bantamweight world champion and Dvalishvili in being a main training partner of the man who took the belt from Yan in Aljamain Sterling.

I don’t expect Dvalishvili to come out with the high pace Sterling did in his first fight with Yan—that is going to give Yan too much opportunity to settle into his style and pace of fight. Though Dvalishvili has a strong takedown game and good top control, Yan has very good takedown defense and a strong ability to get back to his feet. That, coupled with Yan’s offensive takedown ability, gives him a huge advantage in this one in my opinion. I believe the fight will start competitively, but as the rounds pass, we’ll see Yan pull away and be able to establish a stand-up fight with his takedown defense and frustrate Dvalishvili into fighting the fight Yan wants.

Pick: Petr Yan To Win By Decision

DraftKings Sportsbook odds: +110

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