The UFC is headed back to Canada with a Fight Night card in Halifax this Sunday. Derrick Lewis vs Travis Browne is a fun heavyweight fight that replaced the Dos Santos vs Struve headliner after Struve was forced out with injury. This card doesn’t have a ton of big names, but there are some really solid fights compared to some other Fight Night cards the UFC has scheduled, this one is above average. I have 3 picks for this card that I really like which I provide below.
As always I’m going to be using the odds from BetOnline.ag for this article. Here’s our full BetOnline review for you to check out if you’re interested in opening an account and placing some bets.
Derrick Lewis vs Travis Browne
Lewis is on a five fight win streak and all but one of those fights were finishes by Lewis. He is an absolute beast and a brawler on the feet. You do not want to get hit by one of his punches. The knock against Lewis is that he’s been fairly easy to take down during this winning streak and it is definitely a weakness of his, but he’s shown the ability to get the fight standing eventually while on his back and also has shown great cardio by still having power late in fights after his opponents gas out from their take downs. I don’t think people give him enough credit for staying composed after he is taken down and biding his time to get another chance on the feet. He doesn’t mind losing rounds on his back because he knows it only takes 1 punch to finish a fight. Even in the Roy Nelson fight where he didn’t finish and was taken down a ton the judges still scored it for him because he landed some monster shots on Nelson (crazy impressive chin by Nelson), while Nelson was purely looking for takedowns to avoid standing up with Lewis.
Browne has not been impressive of late and I don’t think he’s as durable as people give him credit for. If Lewis lands he will be able to sit Browne down. Also, Browne is not a wrestler so I don’t think he will have more success than say Roy Nelson if he employs a wrestling-centred approach to this fight. Browne is going to want to keep distance, which will be very hard against Lewis. Unless Browne gets a few eye pokes in to keep his distance, which he did against Matt Mitrione, I see Lewis closing distance and landing some big bombs to finish this fight.
Play: Lewis -115
Johny Hendricks vs Hector Lombard
I haven’t given up on Johny Hendricks just yet. He is still one of the best wrestlers in the UFC and he got back to that style in his fight with Magny. The problem was he reverted to purely that style and basically stopped doing damage on the feet or once he got the fight to the mat. I think he will adjust in this fight and be able to take Lombard down when he comes in fast for one of his flurries.
Hendricks has only been knocked out by Wonderboy Thompson, who could not be a further from the style of striker that Lombard is. Lombard is short and has to close the distance to get his hands on his opponents and that will open him up for Hendricks’ wrestling. Lombard has also shown that he gasses in recent fights so if Johny can survive the first round I think the fight is his to win.
Play: Hendricks +120
Randa Markos vs Carla Esparza
This is my favorite pick on the card. Esparza had a bad showing in her last fight with Juliana Lima (even though she won all 3 rounds) and I think this is why she isn’t a bigger favorite in this one. That said, I still consider Esparza in the second echelon of women’s UFC fighters, while Markos is closer to the bottom having really only one solid win in her MMA career, which was a decision over the now retired Aisling Daly.
Markos lost to Cortney Casey in a horrible display in her last fight and also has losses to Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Jessica Penne in the UFC. Her other UFC win came over Jones-Lybarger who may be the worst fighter to have participated in the women’s strawweight division.
Esparza is a great wrestler and she will also be far better than Markos on the feet in this one as well. Let’s not forget that Carla’s only loss in recent memory was against Joanna Jedrzejczyk and it looked really bad with Esparza going for desperation takedowns after getting tuned up on the feet. She doesn’t have to worry about getting dominated on the feet in this one and that will allow her to employ her game plan and easily beat Markos in this fight.
Play: Esparza -265