After a long six-week stretch with no fights, we are officially just days away from UFC 324. The Paramount era is about to begin and the promotion is bringing a very solid card to the table for their debut event.
The featured prelim of Saturday night’s card is a matchup between top bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov (19-1) and former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo (25-5-1). A very interesting and kind of complexing matchup for this card.
Starting with the former flyweight champion, he just turned 38 and he’s currently ranked 6th in the division. He’s coming off a decision win against Montel Jackson where he was the betting underdog. Since moving to 135, the former UFC flyweight champ is 4-2 with the losses coming against Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen.
Umar Nurmagomedov was challenging for the bantamweight title almost exactly one year ago. He lost a close decision to Merab Dvalishvili which was his first career loss. At UFC 321 in October, he returned and bounced back with a tough decision win over a very game Mario Bautista.
UFC 324 Prediction
Umar Nurmagomedov is a massive betting favorite in this fight. This might be, without checking, the largest odds against a former world champion I’ve ever seen. As of this morning, Nurmagomedov was hovering around a -1600 favorite for this fight.
Crazy thing is, that might be generous towards Figueiredo. I’m really having a tough time seeing where he wins at UFC 324. At bantamweight, Figgy has really used wrestling and bully-tactics to pick up wins. While he’s shown off some speed and power on the feet, he’s really relied on his wrestling.
He’s at a massive wrestling disadvantage against Nurmagomedov. Now, we’ve seen Nurmagomedov be clipped and rocked on the feet, but I just don’t see Figgy being able to land a big enough shot to put him away. Nurmagomedov likely has the advantage in terms of his overall striking game.
I just think this is going to be one-way traffic at UFC 324 and the big question is whether or not they’ll be a finish. Deiveson Figueiredo is as tough as they come so I’ll say he gets to the final bell, but I don’t see him having much success.
Prediction: Umar Nurmagomedov by Decision
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