Tsarukyan vs Ismagulov Fight Info, Date & Time
UFC Vegas 66 – Co-Main Event Lightweight Bout
Arman "Ahalkalake ts" Tsarukyan (18-3-0, 7 KOs, 5 Submissions) vs. Damir "Qazaq" Ismagulov (24-1-0, 12 KOs, 1 Submission)
Date:'Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022
Fight Time:'This will be on the main card, which begins at 7 p.m. ET.
Venue:'UFC Apex – Enterprise, NV
Coverage:'ESPN+
Tsarukyan vs Ismagulov Odds & Betting Info
Moneyline:
– Arman Tsarukyan: (-215)
– Damir Ismagulov: (+164)
Method of Victory:
– Tsarukyan by KO/TKO: (+400)
– Tsarukyan by Points: (+125)
– Tsarukyan by Submission : (+950)
– Ismagulov by KO/TKO: (+850)
– Ismagulov by Points: (+250)
– Ismagulov by Submission: (+2900)
Tsarukyan vs Ismagulov Prediction
Tsarukyan is hungry for victory after losing to Mateusz Gamrot, by unanimous decision, in his last fight back in June. The 26-year-old Georgian had rattled off six consecutive wins before that loss, leaving many of his fans wondering if he has a bounce-back performance in store for Vegas.
Standing in Tsarukyan's way is Ismagulov, a former M-1 Lightweight Champion. On top of being 5-0 under the UFC umbrella, Ismagulov has also won each of his last 19 outings, having not tasted defeat since September 2015.
Even though he's the underdog, I'm going with Ismagulov winning at the UFC Apex. Though the two foes are fairly evenly matched on paper, Ismagulov has both height and length advantages, helping him to create separation. On top of that, he also has better striking (63%) and takedown (90%) defense than Tsarukyan (54% and 75%, respectively).
It's going to come down to the wire, but look for Ismagulov to pull off the upset.
Tsarukyan vs Ismagulov Best Bets
Even though I 'm backing Ismagulov to win, Tsarukyan won't just roll over and die. He hasn't been knocked out in over seven years and I don't see him submitting to Ismagulov either. Needless to say, I can see this fight going the distance.
For starters, FanDuel is actually favoring that this fight will reach the time limit, favoring that it'll go the distance at -220 odds. For reference, that's an implied probability of 68.8%.
On top of that, five of Tsaurkyan's last seven fights have gone the distance while Ismagulov has experienced the same in each of his last five outings. With there being some decent value in a decision victory, back Ismagulov to win by decision again at +250.