Matthew Lowrimore
UFC 319 takes place on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. It features a UFC Middleweight title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev as the Main Event. Here are our UFC 319 best bets, 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 319 Main Card fights scheduled for Saturday.
UFC 319 Main Card Best Bets
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
UFC 319 best bet: Lerone Murphy ML over Aaron Pico (+154)
The Co-Main Event at UFC 319 will see Lerone Murphy take on Aaron Pico. This will be a fight in the UFC Featherweight division. Murphy enters this fight with an MMA record of 16-0-1 and 8-0-1 in the UFC. He is averaging 4.53 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 54%. Murphy absorbs 2.48 strikes and has a striking defense of 61%. His grappling is solid as well, averaging 1.45 takedowns every 15 minutes. He has a takedown accuracy of 54% and a takedown defense of 52%.
Pico enters this fight with an MMA record of 13-4, and he will be making his UFC debut here. He has a total of 11 finishes in his career so far, while 3 of his 4 losses have also been by finish.
Pico is the clear favorite in this fight, but given that he has not fought in the UFC before, Murphy looks to be a solid betting option to pull the upset. Murphy is also perfect in his UFC career, and has excellent striking and grappling. For that reason, backing Murphy to win and pull the upset will be our best bet.
You can also find out our UFC 319 parlay picks for Saturday night’s action
UFC 319 prediction: Tim Elliot vs. Kai Asakura – Over 2.5 Rounds (-130)
The first fight on the Main Card at UFC 319 will see Tim Elliot take on Kai Asakura. This will be a fight in the UFC Flyweight division. Elliot enters this fight with an MMA record of 21-13-1 and 9-11 in the UFC. He is averaging 3.39 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 44%. Elliot absorbs 2.66 strikes and has a striking defense of 56%. His grappling is also solid, averaging 3.73 takedowns every 15 minutes and 1.0 submission attempts during the same period. He has a takedown accuracy of 47% and a takedown defense of 59%.
Asakura enters this fight with an MMA record of 21-5 and 0-1 in the UFC. He is averaging 2.40 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 58%. Asakura absorbs 4.52 strikes and has a striking defense of 38%. He has not yet shown any takedown ability, but has a takedown defense of 57%.
Asakura is the clear favorite in this fight; therefore, we will be targeting this fight to go over 2.5 rounds. Elliot has seen 6 of his last 7 UFC fights go over 2.5 rounds. Asakura only has one UFC fight, a fight that ended in the second round; however, we expect him to last much longer in this fight against an opponent who has not had a ton of success recently in finishing opponents. For that reason, backing this fight to go over 2.5 rounds will be our best bet.
Check out the rest of our UFC picks for every main card fight at UFC 319!
