UFC 281 takes place on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. This card features a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira as the Main Event and a women’s strawweight title fight between Carla Esparza and Zhang Weili as the Co-Main Event.
We are sharing our UFC 281 best bets here, but head over to our main UFC 281 predictions for picks for each fight on the main card and preliminary card. Let's get into our best bets for Saturday's card.
UFC 281 Main Card best bets
Israel Adesanya is a heavy favorite in this fight, which makes sense given he is the one holding the title. Alex Pereira however; is a prolific striker, which makes him a live dog with the power he has shown recently. Adesanya has won 15 fights in his career by KO/TKO, while Pereira has won 5 of his 6 fights by the same method. Even though Adesanya has won his last 3 fights by decision, backing this fight to end inside the distance will be the play as Pereira loves to fight at a quick pace, and even has the knockout ability to win this fight. For that reason, backing this fight to end inside the distance will be the play.
Claudio'Puelles comes into this fight with an MMA record of 13-2. He is 5-1 in the UFC, most recently beating Clay Guida by submission back in April of this year. Puelles is averaging 1.99 significant strikes per minute and has a striking accuracy of 51%. He is absorbing 2.89 strikes and has a striking defense of 46%. His grappling is solid, averaging 2.74 takedowns per every 15 minutes and 1.4 submission attempts during the same time period. His takedown accuracy is 38% and his takedown defense is 60%.