The UFC brings their 2021 pay-per-view calendar to a close on Saturday with UFC 269 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, an event headlined by a pair of championship contests. In the main event, Dustin Poirier will challenge lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, while Amanda Nunes will defend her UFC women’s bantamweight championship in a battle with Julianna Pena.
It’s been a chaotic year in the UFC, with plenty of upsets, great fights and division-altering results. Saturday certainly provides chances for that to continue, not only in the title bouts but throughout the entire card. Plenty of other big names will be in action on the card, including former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and rising star Sean O’Malley.
For many, there’s no better way to add a little extra spice to a big night of fights than having a little money on the line. With so many intriguing fights on the card and so many close fights, it’s a great card to get in on some of the action.
Caesars Sportsbook has you covered with every angle of UFC 269 to get in on the action. We’re going to give you a few options to consider with this card from our favorite moneyline play, prop play and parlay play. Let’s take a closer look at those picks now.
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Best moneyline pick
Josh Emmett -180 vs. Dan Ige
Emmett is not only the better overall fighter heading into this fight but is also the better fighter at imposing his will on the flow of the fight. Look at the fighters’ performances in the five most recent fights. Emmett has four wins, three by knockout and a well-earned decision against Shane Burgos. Mixed in is a KO loss to Jeremy Stephens, but that is Emmett’s lone stoppage loss in his career. Ige, on the other hand, is 3-2, with one knockout win and two by split decision, in addition to two decision losses. You could argue relative strength of schedule is roughly equal in those five-fight runs. Ige is a fun fighter, but Emmett is relentless, and it’s easy to see him simply overwhelming Ige in this one.
Moneyline record to date (2021): 4-5
Best prop pick
Dominick Cruz vs. Pedro Munhoz to go the distance: Yes -175
Cruz has 16 career fights that have taken place under either the UFC or WEC banner. Only five of those fights have not gone the distance. He also was out of action from December 2016 to May 2020 and in his two fights since returning was stopped by strikes once by one of the best fighters in the sport (Henry Cejudo) and won a split decision. Munhoz is much more in line with fighters who go the distance against Cruz than anything. Munhoz is also on a four-fight run of fights going to decision. There are a lot of factors pointing to this being a fight that goes all 15 minutes before the decision is left up to the judges and the -175 line feels lower than it should be.
Prop pick record to date (2021): 3-6
Best parlay pick
Sean O’Malley -310, Amanda Nunes via KO/TKO/DQ/Sub -333, Alex Perez -330 (+124)
It’s been a rough year for us in the ol’ Best Bets column and we’re not taking any huge swings with our last parlay of the year. The criticism of O’Malley being fed soft touches is valid. He’s promoted like a top 10 fighter but is not booked to fight men who are at that level. That continues on Saturday night when he faces Raulian Paiva, who isn’t a bad fighter, but he has only fought at bantamweight once since joining the UFC roster and that was a majority decision win over Kyler Phillips. O’Malley is bigger, stronger and more dynamic. This should be his fight to lose. Nunes is just being fed the next available opponent at this point in her career and the only way she can really impress is to score finishes. Pena has been stopped in 21% of her career fights (three times in 14 bouts) and those weren’t against the greatest woman ever in the game. Finally, who has defeated Perez in eight trips to the UFC Octagon? Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo. Matt Schnell is not on that level and does not have the dynamic game to trouble Perez. Three safe picks at plus money is a parlay you should be able to get behind.
Parlay pick record to date (2021): 1-8
