UFC 299: Sean O'Malley vs. Marlon Vera picks, predictions and best bets: Yadong Continues to Improve

Song Yadong in action against Cody Stamann during their mixed martial arts bout at UFC Fight Night, Saturday, December 7, 2019, in Washington, D.C. They fought to a majority draw.
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Matthew Lowrimore

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Matthew has been with Pickswise for a while now, covering a wide variety of sports. His main passions are college football and UFC, and those are the sports he has covered the most. Matthew uses a variety of methods to handicap games, including stats, trends, injuries, and situational factors. His goal is to consistently give out winners and will put in the research to try and achieve this. For Matt Lowrimore media enquiries, please email contact@pickswise.com.
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UFC 299 takes place on Saturday at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. This card features a bantamweight title fight between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera as the Main Event. Here are our best bets for this UFC card, which will include 2 fights on the Main Card.

Be sure to also check out the rest of our UFC predictions for all of the UFC 299 Main Card fights.

UFC 299 Main Card Best Bets

Michael Page ML over Kevin Holland (+110)

Kevin Holland comes into this fight with an MMA record of 25-10 and he is 13-7 in the UFC. He is averaging 4.39 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 49%. Holland is absorbing 3.22 strikes and has a striking defense of 51%. His grappling is decent, averaging 0.78 takedowns per every 15 minutes. He has a takedown accuracy of 38% and a takedown defense of 53%.

Michael Page comes into this fight with an MMA record of 21-2. This will be his official UFC debut. Page has been more than impressive thus far, having won 16 times by finish. He also has lost just once by KO/TKO and once by decision.

Holland is a slight favorite in this fight, but has been inconsistent recently, winning just 2 of his last 5 fights. This may be the UFC debut fight for Page, but he has shown enough in his previous fights to make backing him worth a play.

Song Yadong ML over Petr Yan (+105)

The first fight on the Main Card at UFC 299 will see Petr Yan take on Song Yadong. This will be a fight in the UFC Bantamweight division. Yan comes into this fight with an MMA record of 16-5 and he is 8-4 in the UFC. He is averaging 5.03 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 53%. Yan is absorbing 4.26 strikes and has a striking defense of 59%.

Song Yadong comes into fight with an MMA record of 21-7-1 and he is 10-2-1 in the UFC. He is averaging 4.38 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 42%. Yadong is absorbing 3.73 strikes and has a striking defense of 57%. Yadong is averaging just 0.63 takedowns per every 15 minutes. His takedown accuracy is 58% and his takedown defense is 73%.

While Yan is the small favorite, he has lost his last 3 fights in a row and 4 of his last 5 fights. Yadong has the slight advantage in striking and his takedown defense suggests he can nullify Yan’s grappling advantage. For that reason, backing Yadong to win will be our best bet.

UFC 299 Preliminary Card Best Bet

Jailton Almeida ML over Curtis Blaydes (-110)

Jailton Almeida comes into this fight with an MMA record of 20-2 and he is 7-0 in the UFC. Almeida is averaging 2.78 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 64%. He is absorbing 0.52 strikes and has a striking defense of 43%. His grappling has been elite so far, averaging 5.14 takedowns per every 15 minutes and 2.4 submission attempts during the same time period. His takedown accuracy is 55% and his takedown defense is 75%.

This fight is even, but given the fact that Almeida has superior grappling and the ability to win in many different ways, backing Almeida to win will be our best bet.

Be sure to also check our our UFC 299 four-fight parlay with odds of +790

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