UFC Atlanta: Usman vs. Buckley picks and predictions (Corrected)
See who we think will win this Saturday in Hot-Lanta!
Note: I biffed this one on the first try and left some errant picks from UFC 316 in here (which were really good picks, by the way). Sorry folks. Here’s the cleaned up version.
The UFC is in Atlanta this weekend and they’ve got a pretty good card going on down there. A lot of the fights look like squash matches when you just look the odds. However, there are plenty of recognizable names and intriguing match-ups going on here. This event may be a far cry from a PPV, but it’s way closer to PPV standards than APEX standards.
The main event is Kamaru Usman vs. Jaoquin Buckley. Buckley has really raised his stock by beaten up on the welterweights of yesteryear. If he gets past Usman, he won’t have many of those left!
The co-main has former champ Rose Namajunas taking on Miranda Maverick. This is a huge opportunity for Maverick, who would skyrocket up the rankings with a win here. Also on the main card is Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Andre Petroski, Cody Garbrandt vs. Raoni Barcelos and Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Cody Brundage.
The prelims has some names on it, too. We’ve got the Paul Craig vs. Rodolfo Bellato fight we were supposed to have at the APEX recently. We’ve also got Michael Chiesa vs. Court McGee (you gotta love that if you’re born before the 1990s). Ricky Simon also meets Cameron Smotherman.
As always we’ve made our picks on all these fights. Last week we did pretty good. Nate and Miguel led the way with a 14-4 showing. Nate’s now over .700 in picking fights! Kristen and I were just behind with 13-5 records. I remain atop the leader board thanks to nailing my lock pick again (I’m almost .900 when it comes to those). I went with Azamat Murzakanov last week. We all actually hit on our lock picks last week. You can see this week’s locks below.
If you’re using this info for betting, please please please do so responsibly.
Leader board
Kamaru Usman (+240) vs. Joaquin Buckley (-300)
Miguel Class: This is an agonizing pick to make. Even while he was champion, we were all waiting for Usman to fall off a cliff given his age, incredibly physical style, and the way he was talking about his injuries. But you can’t help but look at his three-fight losing streak and still see at least the silhouette of an elite welterweight, something I’ve yet to really see from Buckley. Usman was winning the second fight with Edwards and putting on a vintage performance until the head kick, he ran into a Leon that had the performance of his life in the rubber match, and then he arguably beat Chimaev in as a short notice replacement at middleweight. Three losses, but he was competitive in each.