UFC 325 takes place on Saturday at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. It features a UFC Featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes as the main event and a UFC Lightweight fight between Dan Hooker and Benoit Saint Denis as the co-main event. Here are our UFC 325 best bets, which will include 2 fights on the main card, with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
Be sure to also check out the rest of our UFC predictions for all of the UFC 325 main card fights scheduled for Saturday, January 31st.
UFC 325 best bet: Benoit Saint Denis Win by Finish over Dan Hooker (-130)
The co-main event at UFC 325 will see Dan Hooker take on Benoit Saint Denis. This will be a fight in the UFC Lightweight division, as Hooker enters this fight with an MMA record of 24-13 and 14-9 in the UFC. He averages 4.89 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 48%, while absorbing 4.73 strikes and boasting a striking defense of 50%. His grappling, however, has not been impressive, averaging just 0.71 takedowns every 15 minutes while sporting a takedown accuracy of 34% and a takedown defense of 77%.
Saint Denis enters this fight with an MMA record of 16-3 and 8-3 in the UFC. Offensively, he averages 5.07 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 55%, and he’s sound on the defensive side as well — absorbing 4.21 strikes per minute with a striking defense of 42%. His grappling is elite, averaging 4.33 takedowns every 15 minutes and 1.6 submission attempts during the same period. Saint Denis has a takedown accuracy of 37% and a takedown defense of 70%.
Saint Denis is the overwhelming favorite, and rather than drink the juice on a big favorite price, we’re going to pivot to Saint Denis winning before the judges get involved. He has won all 8 of his UFC fights inside the distance, while Hooker has lost 5 times by finish, including his most recent fight. Further, Saint Denis has the advantage in both striking volume and grappling. Saint Denis by finish is the play here.
You can also find out our UFC 325 parlay picks for Saturday night’s action
UFC 325 prediction: Mauricio Ruffy ML over Rafael Fiziev (-125)
The third fight on the main card at UFC 325 pits Rafael Fiziev against Mauricio Ruffy in the Lightweight division. Fiziev enters this fight with an MMA record of 13-4, including 7-4 in the UFC, and he averages 4.77 significant strikes per minute with a striking accuracy of 52%. On the other side, he absorbs 4.77 strikes and has a striking defense of 50%. He’s not bad on the ground either, averaging 0.89 takedowns every 15 minutes while sporting a takedown accuracy of 72% and a takedown defense of 90%.
Ruffy enters this fight with an MMA record of 12-2 and 4-1 in the UFC. He averages 3.84 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 57%. Ruffy absorbs 4.16 strikes and has a striking defense of 60%. He has not shown any grappling ability, but has a takedown defense of 84%.
Ruffy is the small favorite in this fight, and I can see why. He is much more of a balanced fighter, and Fiziev has been in poor form — going 1-3 in his last 4 UFC fights. Ruffy is the play here, as I would want a bigger price to back Fiziev.
Check out the rest of our UFC picks for every main card fight at UFC 325!
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