2 Team Parlay
7/7/12 9:30pm UFC Fighting 1602 Gleison Tibau -200* vs Khabib Nurmagomedov
7/7/12 7:30pm UFC Fighting 1951 Yoislandy Izquierdo -175* vs Rafaello Oliveira
After rewatching Nurma's fight with Kamal, I noticed how fundamentally rudimetary his striking really is. He keeps his chin way up, closes his eyes, and swings away wildly... No footwork, no head movement, just really horrible technique. A solid striker with power like Gleison should find openings and score points standing or maybe even catch and rock Nurma. Gleison also possesses a wrestling advantage. He's the more powerful, unpredictable wrestler who sets up his takedowns much better than Nurma. Nurma's main method of winning this fight is catching Gleison like he did Kamal, whether it is during a grappling separation or scramble. As Luca Fury pointed out in his podcast though, Gleison has some of the best recovery ability in MMA if he does somehow get rocked. Nurma may have looked good against Kamal at first glance, but Gleison has much better MMA wrestling than Kamal, better cardio, and more technical boxing. I will throw him in a parlay and perhaps a straight bet if the line gets back to under -200.
As for Iz, he possesses a major striking advantage over Oliveira. While Oliveira's striking has improved, his striking defense is still poor and will have to be uncharacteristically impressive if he wants to win on Saturday. Oliveira's only chance of winning this fight is taking Iz down and either controlling him or submitting, of which he is fully capable of doing. However, combine Oliveira's poor wrestling combined with Iz's length and ever improving takedown defense, and I find it unlikely. Iz should bombard Oliveira with a versatile striking repertoire like he did in the first round against a much more talented wrestler in Madadi.