UFC 279 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday has a 13-fight card beginning at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, including a five-fight main card beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
VSiN experts Lou Finocchiaro and Reed Kuhn offer their best bets for Saturday’s action.
Last week, Nasrat Haqparast (-225) earned a one-sided decision over John Makdessi for a one-unit win for Finocchiaro.
Finocchiaro’s 2022 totals: 21-12 (+ 10.42 units)
Khamzat Chimaev (-1050) vs. Nate Diaz (+ 750)
Welterweight (170 pounds) | Main event
Total in this fight: 1.5 rounds (Over -150)
Finocchiaro: I handicap fights. I don’t concern myself with the matchmaking aspect of the sport because, if I did, this matchup would garner a strong response.
Khamzat Chimaev is the newest sensation in MMA. He’s a Russian-born vice grip armed with elite wrestling/grappling ability, lightning quickness and obtuse power. He trains across the globe with anyone brave enough and willing enough to expose this potential fighting savant to the subtleties of the game while measuring their skillset against his.
Eventually, he’ll compete at 185 pounds because he’s soon to outgrow the welterweight division.
No one who’s been around this kid has anything to say but positive remarks about his attitude, training and work ethic. In his last bout, the first real challenge against elite UFC talent, Chimaev looked inexperienced and at times wild. He wandered off the plan and paid for it in a tussle he finally won. That impassioned battle against Gilbert Burns taught Chimaev more in 15 minutes than he’s learned in the last six months. It also showed the kid’s lack of championship experience.
Across the cage stands a man who is due his respect. Nate Diaz is one of the true OGs of MMA. Authentic, original, unyielding to his passions and a world-class fighting machine he was. Now a 37-year-old who has lost what nominal power he once possessed, Diaz is relegated by age to compete at 170 pounds when his most effective fighting came at 155.
The organization forces him into a fight with a young man who is all the hype, a man no one wants to face and one who will soon enough have to fight at 185 pounds because he is maturing so quickly and packing on muscle.
Chimaev’s quickness, speed, agility and precision are enough to overwhelm Diaz, but experience and level of competition must factor into the handicap to a degree.