UFC Saudi Arabia picks and predictions

See who we are picking for the UFC's debut in Saudi Arabia.

Someone has to be the nail. Art by Chris Rini.

The UFC is in Saudi Arabia this weekend because money.

That’s right, Ari and Dana are bringing their pain factory to a new corner of the desert for a cash grab that they’ll share among… themselves. I’m sure they hope this will be the first of many events that the House of Saud will pay them hand over fist for. However, this subpar card is unlikely to blow anybody’s thawbs off. I guess we’ll see if this makes the Saudis less eager to welcome the Octagon back to Riyadh or whether they’ll double down and demand a Conor McGregor spectacle in the near future.

Anyways, the main event for UFC Saudi Arabia currently stands as Robert Whittaker vs. Ikram Aliskerov (thanks to Khamzat Chimaev pulling out, due to him being Khamzat Chimaev). Aliskerov has just two UFC fights under his belt and was previously scheduled to fight in the co-main event of last week’s APEX show (which may have been the promotion’s worst on record).

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Our co-main event has Russian heavyweights Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov colliding. Also on the main card we’ve got Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez and Johnny Walker vs. Volkan Oezdemir.

Also on the card is Shara Magomedov (who is best known for suckerpunching and stomping on a guy in a mall for the crime of kissing his own girlfriend in public). He faces late replacement Antonio Troccoli. Troccoli is replacing a fighter who just admitted to being “on the juice”. Troccoli himself is returning to the UFC after he was booted for testing positive for nandrolone. What a sport, huh?

Scroll down for our picks for all these fights. Do what you will with that information. But please, if you’re making wagers, only bet what you can afford to lose.

Robert Whittaker (-150) vs. Ikram Aliskerov (+125)

Dayne: It’s easy to get cute with this pick. In the limited amount of recent footage on Aliskerov, he looks like he can hang with the top ten of the division. Of course, that’s been said about countless fighters in their first two UFC contests only for the narrative to change long before they work their way to the top ten. Aliskerov is getting that opportunity right now, on short notice, flying halfway around the world a week after he thought he was going to be competing. That is a BIG ask, especially against someone like Whittaker…