UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal 2 Predictions and Fight Picks

Swept with the UFC picks last week. I mentioned in Whittaker vs Gastelum fight pick post I struggled to find match ups I had confidence in. To prove that point, out of the ten total fights four of them resulted in split decision. Refusing to mention the other “event” that took place Saturday night.

Dana is delivering a three title fight card, UFC 261 Usman vs Masvidal 2. For a PPV event with three title fights I expected to see a much better card. Not too impressed with the rest of the 261 card.

Kamaru Usman (-420) vs Jorge Masvidal (+305)

Jorge Masvidal gets the full training like he asked for, and that won’t help. Usman is levels above everyone in the welterweight division. Last time these two fought Kamaru Usman dominated the entire fight. When looking back at the judges score cards Masvidal did not win a round. David Lethaby had it 10-9 Masvidal round one, but Ben Cartlidge and Mark Collett scored it 10-9 Usman. Other than the first round, every round moving forward was scored unanimously 10-9 Usman. Hard to bet against someone who won the first fight 50-45. Not sure what else I can add, these odds speak for themselves. You may hate Usman, but at the end of the day he wins fights. “Nigerian Nightmare” by decision seems like the play to make.

Kamaru Usman (-420)

Uriah Hall (-115) vs Chris Weidman (-105)

Vegas is making these odds a pick em fight is banana land. Weidman and Hall met in the cage over a decade ago. Weidman knocked Hall out in the first round. A decade is a very long time, these are two completely different athletes now. Chris Weidman has been on a skid since 2015 only winning 3 of 8 total fights. All of the losses have come by knock out, now he is up against a knock out machine. Uriah “Prime Time” Hall has 20 professional MMA wins, 14 of them have come via knock out. Weidman is struggling facing dynamic strikers. The combination of
a excellent jab with 1.5 reach advantage is going to present Weidman difficulties all night. Granted Hall started off very slow against Silva. The slow start had more to do with the emotions of fighting his idol in the cage. Uriah Hall is looking to get revenge on Weidman, maybe even repay a decade old knock out.

Uriah Hall (-115)

Jimmy Crute (-195) vs Anthony Smith (+165)
Jimmy Crute looked near perfect last time in the cage against Modestas Bukauskas. Now Crute faces his toughest opponent, Anthony “Lion Heart” Smith. For only being 25 years old Jimmy Crute is very well rounded in all assets of his game. Crute is 4-1 in the UFC, 2 wins coming by Kimura, 2 coming by knock out. Stylistically this is a horrible match up for Lion Heart. Crute throws a higher volume output, averaging 1.42 more strikes per minute. Crurte loves taking the fight to the ground, averaging 4.33 takedowns. Anthony holds the experience having 51 professional fights. Smith has not looked the same since Jon Jones took his soul. Now going up against a hungry 25 year old who wants to prove a point in the light heavyweight division. We got a great match up here. However Jimmy Crute is going to finish this fight one way or another.

Jimmy Crute (-195)

Seems like a predictable card, I do not see many upsets happening. UFC 261 is a top heavy card. No idea who any of the fighters in the first four fights are. Four of them are making their UFC debuts. Can one of y’all do something wild, maybe a flying triangle? Ill be a life long fan.

Shout out to Adrian Yanez and Billy Q for showing love and following me on social media this weekend! Goes to show how long Delinquent MMA has come and how much further I have to go!