UFC Fight Night Vettori vs. Cannonier Preview, Odds, Picks, Predictions

The UFC middleweight bout between Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier takes place this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Both fighters are former title challengers, though, wasting the chance to win the belt. On both occasions, Israel Adesanya was the villain that prevented them from reaching the division throne. Vettori is still relevant and has time to attack the belt once more, while Cannonier needs some instant success in order to get the chance for another title clash, as he has 39 years.

Preview

Marvin Vettori (19-6-1, -110) split the last four battles with two wins and two losses. He was on the losing side against Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker while beating Paulo Costa and Roman Dolidze. The contest against Adesanya was for the title, but the Italian lost via unanimous decision.

Vettori is a guy who loves physical battle and often takes down the business to the mat, where he has excellent grappling and wrestling skills. Nine of his 19 victories were by submission, and he usually wins like that. What helps him dominate on the ground is very good cardio, with the Italian Dream carrying his muscles pretty well, keeping in mind the size.

Meanwhile, his striking abilities aren’t inferior at all, and even though he doesn’t knock out rivals frequently, Vettori can create plenty of problems with his fists. Not only due to his attacking abilities but his steel chin. There isn’t a punch this guy can’t eat, and that makes him a great problem for everyone.

Jared Cannonier (-110, 16-6) also challenged Adesanya, who also lost via unanimous decision. It was at the UFC 276, and after that, the Killa Gorilla had one more battle, which was against Sean Strickland, whom he defeated via split decision. Though, we need to say that, in our opinion, he didn’t deserve to win that battle. 

Cannonier was a heavyweight and then dropped down through categories to become the middleweight. That’s why he possesses an incredibly strong punch and often wins via KO; ten of his 16 wins came like that. On the other side, due to his size and all the muscles, Cannonier often has problems with stamina in the late phases of the event. 

Throughout the years, he collected a solid number of wins over famous names – Anderson Silva, Jack Hermansson, Kelvin Gastelum, Derek Brunson, Ion Cutelaba etc. He did travel through divisions, so he experienced some tough defeats, like the KO against Dominick Reyes and Shawn Jordan. 

Predictions

Vettori is a better-prepared fighter, and his cardio will be a big deal in this event. Also, the fact that he can eat strong punches is something that could take away an edge from Cannonier, who is heavily relying upon his one-punch KOs. The other big advantage Vettori has is wrestling, an area in which Cannonier isn’t good at all, and we’ve seen him escaping death against Brunson before beating the veteran. So, the bottom line is that we pick Vettori to win this clash and continue his chase for the middleweight crown. The odds here are -110. 

Pick: Marvin Vettori wins -110