UFC 280 takes place on Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. This card features a lightweight title fight between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev as the Main Event and a bantamweight title fight between Aljamain Sterling and TJ Dillashaw as the Co-Main Event.
Here is our favorite 4-fight parlay for this card, with odds of +434 at DraftKings Sportsbook. Be sure to check out the rest of our UFC 280 predictions for the full 13-fight slate.
Islam Makhachev comes into this fight with an MMA record of 22-1. He is 11-1 in the UFC, most recently beating Bobby Green by KO/TKO back in February of this year. Makhachev is averaging 2.27 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 57%. More impressively, he is absorbing 0.84 strikes and has a striking defense of 68%. His grappling has been elite in the UFC, averaging 3.41 takedowns per every 15 minutes and 1.2 submission attempts during the same time period. His takedown accuracy is 65% and his takedown defense is 88%.
It is not too surprising that Makhachev is a heavy favorite in this fight given that Charles Oliveira has been undervalued over his last couple of fights. He has proven time and time again that he deserves to carry the Lightweight belt. However, Makhachev has been a buzzsaw since joining the UFC and has lost just once since 2015. He has never lost by submission, which is one of Oliveira's main strengths. This should be a close fight, but because Makhachev has absorbed very little damage and has a near perfect takedown defense, backing him to win will be the play as a new Lightweight champion can be crowned.