One of the toughest men on the planet puts his UFC title on the line when Alexander Volkanovski takes on Ilia Topuria for the UFC Featherweight title.
Early odds had Topuria the favorite, but money this week has landed on Volka so that Alex is the -125 chalk. Before Volkanovski throws down against Topuria, Robert Whittaker takes on Paulo Costa in the co-main event.
Will Whittaker prove best against the chalk? Will Volka defend his title?
Check out the UFC betting odds for the bouts, analysis, and free picks for four prelim and five main card bouts at UFC 298.
UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria Betting Analysis for the Main Card | MyBookie MMA Betting Preview on the Whole Fight Card including the Preliminary Card
UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria
Saturday, February 17th, 2024 at 4:00 pm ET | PPV
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
UFC 298: Volkanovski vs Topuria Prelims
Zhang Mingyang vs Brendson Ribeiro
UFC Lines: Zhang Mingyang -120; Brendson Ribeiro +100
Featherweight Bout
Saturday, February 17th
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
This is slight favorite Zhang Mingyang’s second UFC bout. Mingyang beat Tuco Tokkos via first round knockout in a Road to UFC episode. The -120 chalk has won 13 straight via TKO, KO, or submission in the first round.
Brendson Ribeiro is a step up in class from Zhang’s competition. Ribeiro is also on a 3-match winning streak where’s won all 3 in the first round. This should be a good fight that ends up gong to Mingyang, who has shown more ground game expertise than Ribeiro.
Zhang Mingyang vs Brendson Ribeiro
UFC Betting Pick: Zhang Mingyang | Odds for UFC 298
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Bout
Rinya Nakamura vs Carlos Vera
UFC Lines: Rinya Nakamura -1300; Carlos Vera +750
Featherweight Bout
Saturday, February 17th
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Nakamura is a heavy favorite in this. It makes sense because Rinya is 8-0. Not only is the chalk undefeated at 8-0, but Nakamura has won 5 of his bouts via technical knockout or knockout and 1 via submission.
Carlos Vera is 11-3 and won his last 2 via submission. But this is Vera’s first UFC bout. Dana White matched up Vera with one of the top up and coming fighters at the promotion. Nakamura gets it done and he ends Vera’s night early.
Rinya Nakamura vs Carlos Vera
UFC Betting Pick: Rinya Nakamura | Odds for UFC 298
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Bout
Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs Justin Tafa
UFC Lines: Marcos Rogerio de Lima -150; Justin Tafa +125
Featherweight Bout
Saturday, February 17th
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Underdog Justin Tafa boasts 3 Round 1 knockout wins in his last 4. Tafa is 7-3 overall and 7-1 via knockout or technical knockout, which tells us Justin has lost just once via KO or TKO.
de Lima is 13-2 via knockout or technical knockout but just 4-6 via submission victories. Since Tafa doesn’t have submission skills, de Lima is the chalk. But Tafa may have a better chin, but de Lima has lost 10 times. Give the +125 dog a chance.
Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs Justin Tafa
UFC Betting Pick: Justin Tafa | Odds for UFC 298
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Bout
Amanda Lemos vs Mackenzie Dern
UFC Lines: Amanda Lemos -130; Mackenzie Dern +110
Featherweight Bout
Saturday, February 17th
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Lemos versus Dern qualifies as a main card bout. Both are exceptional mixed martial artists. Favored Amanda Lemos lost her last but it was versus UFC Women’s Strawweight Champ Zhang Weili. Right now, Weili is one of UFC’s top fighters.
Mackenzie Dern is 13-4 overall and has lost 3 of her last 5. Dern has fallen to talented fighters like Jessica Andrade. Still, Lemos should bounce back in this. Back the favorite to cash.
Amanda Lemos vs Mackenzie Dern
UFC Betting Pick: Amanda Lemos | Odds for UFC 298
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Bout
UFC 298: Volkanovski vs Topuria Main Card
Anthony Hernandez vs Roman Kopylov
UFC Lines: Anthony Hernandez -250; Roman Kopylov +205
Featherweight Bout
Saturday, February 17th
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Hernandez opened a -195 chalk, which means money has gone big time onto Hernandez. The now -250 favorite has won 4 straight, 2 via submission, 1 via knockout, and another via decision.
Roman Kopylov has won 4 straight via knockout or technical knockout. This, for sure, is a massive step up for Kopylov. The Russian, that’s Kopylov, doesn’t possess the ground game that Hernandez does. The chalk takes this.
Anthony Hernandez vs Roman Kopylov
UFC Betting Pick: Anthony Hernandez | Odds for UFC 298
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Bout
Merab Dvalishvili vs Henry Cejudo
UFC Lines: Merab Dvalishvili -225; Henry Cejudo +185
Featherweight Bout
Saturday, February 17th
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Here’s another where UFC bettors are pounding chalk. Dvalishvili was a -195 favorite and Henry Cejudo was a +160 underdog.
Heading into Friday, Merab is at -225 and Cejudo is at +185. Dvalishvili is 2 inches taller and has a 4 inches reach advantage. Not only that, but Dvalishvili hasn’t lost since 2018, winning 8-of-9 via unanimous decision. What that tells us is that Dvalishvili is going to use his length to score points and Cejudo from getting off power shots. Merab wins another via decision.
Merab Dvalishvili vs Henry Cejudo
UFC Betting Pick: Merab Dvalishvili | Odds for UFC 298
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Bout
Geoff Neal vs Ian Garry
UFC Lines: Geoff Neal +195; Ian Garry -240
Featherweight Bout
Saturday, February 17th
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Neal is tough but he doesn’t go into this fighting his best. The underdog in this has lost 3-of-5. Neal also gives up 4 inches in height.
Garry is undefeated at 13-0. The -240 favorite has won 7 bouts via technical knockout or knockout and 1 via submission. Garry should end Neal’s night before the final ring of the bell.
Geoff Neal vs Ian Garry
UFC Betting Pick: Ian Garry | Odds for UFC 298
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Bout
Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa
UFC Lines: Robert Whittaker -260; Paulo Costa +210
Featherweight Bout
Saturday, February 17th
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Money continues to flow to Robert Whittaker even though Paulo Costa has the better overall record at 14-2.
One of the reasons is because Costa hasn’t fought since beating Luke Rockhold via unanimous decision in August 2022. Since then, Whittaker has fought twice, beating Martin Vettori via unanimous decision and losing to current champ Dricus Du Plessis via second round knockout.
Whittaker should win this. But the action has made Costa an overlay. Backing Paulo makes sense.
Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa
UFC Betting Pick: Paulo Costa | Odds for UFC 298
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Bout
Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria
UFC Lines: Alexander Volkanovski -125; Ilia Topuria +105
UFC Featherweight Title
Saturday, February 17th
Honda Center, Anaheim, California
The odds have flipped big time. Topuria was the slight -125 chalk on Monday. As of Thursday, Volka is the -125 favorite.
Topuria has the undefeated 14-0 record. But the champ is as solid as it gets. Sure, Volka has lost 2-of-3 both losses came against possibly the best fighter at UFC right now, Islam Makhachev. Volkanovski had to go up in weight.
Back at his preferred weight, Volkanovski is going to be difficult to beat. Alexander keeps his belt.
Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria
UFC Betting Pick: Alexander Volkanovski | Odds for UFC 298
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Bout
UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria Fight Card Schedule | MMA
| Main Card (ESPN+) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | |||
| Featherweight | Alexander Volkanovski (c) | vs. | Ilia Topuria |
| Middleweight | Robert Whittaker | vs. | Paulo Costa |
| Welterweight | Geoff Neal | vs. | Ian Machado Garry |
| Bantamweight | Merab Dvalishvili | vs. | Henry Cejudo |
| Middleweight | Anthony Hernandez | vs. | Roman Kopylov |
| Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||
| Women’s Strawweight | Amanda Lemos | vs. | Mackenzie Dern |
| Heavyweight | Marcos Rogério de Lima | vs. | Justin Tafa |
| Bantamweight | Rinya Nakamura | vs. | Carlos Vera |
| Light Heavyweight | Zhang Mingyang | vs. | Brendson Ribeiro |
| Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass) | |||
| Welterweight | Josh Quinlan | vs. | Danny Barlow |
| Welterweight | Oban Elliott | vs. | Val Woodburn |
| Women’s Flyweight | Andrea Lee | vs. | Miranda Maverick |
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Best UFC Fight Night 84 “Silva vs Bisping” Picks
Previous Betting News
The UFC will be back in action this weekend when UFC Fight Night 84: “Bisping vs. Silva” kicks off on Saturday, Feb. 27, live from O2 Arena in London, England. The now legendary Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva will make his return to the Octagon for the first time in over a year at UFC Fight Night 84 when he takes on veteran Michael Bisping in a UFC betting odds pairing that looks like it could turn out to be a real gem of a fight. Now, let’s take a look at the top three fight for UFC Fight Night 84.
Best Picks for UFC Fight Night 84: Silva vs Bisping
Welterweight Tom Breese -950 vs Keita Nakamura +575
Tom Breese (9-0) has recorded three wins via KO and six by way of submission in his brief MMA career. The 24-year-old from Birmingham, New England holds a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Firas Zahabi. Brees enters this bout looking for his third straight first round win.
The 31-year-old Keita Nakamura (31-6) has won five straight fights and took out Li Jingliang with a third round submission (rear naked choke) to win the Fight of the Night honors at UFC Fight Night: Barnett vs. Nelson in September. Nakamura has recorded six wins via KO, 17 by way of submission and eight via decision. The Japanese superstar has also suffered six losses in his career with one coming by way of knockout, one via submission and four by way of decision. Nakamura will make his debut for his second stint in the UFC in this bout.
Fight Analysis: There’s a reason why Tom Breese is the biggest favorite on the entire UFC 84 card and it’s because he’s not going to lose this bout against an older, slower and less versatile Nakamura. Breese has won two straight via first round KO’s that came on a series of punches, following three straight submission wins, so clearly Breese can win by a number of means, but I’m going with a third round submission.
The Pick: Tom Brees via Third Round Submission
Light Heavyweight Gegard Mousasi -325 vs Thales Leites +250
Gegard Mousasi has recorded 19 of his 37 wins via KO, 12 by way of submission and six via decision while suffering six career losses with three of those coming by way of submission, to via decision and one by way of knockout. Unfortunately, the 30-year-old Mousasi is coming off a humbling second round KO loss (flying knee) at the hand of Uriah Hall at UFC Fight Night: Barnett vs. Nelson in September.
34-year-old Thales Leites has recorded 14 of his career wins via submission, four via KO and seven by way of submission. Leites has also been on the wrong side of four decision losses and one submission loss.
Leites had his eight-fight winning streak snapped in his split decision loss against Bisping at UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Leites in July, but he’s the easy pick to stop Mousasi if you ask me.
Fight Analysis: Leites is an excellent striker that uses an abundance of freaky leg kicks and should be able to beat Mousasi whether standing up or on the ground, which is where Mousasi would like to get this bout. I like Leites via second round submission.
The Pick: Thales Leites via second round submission.
Middleweight Anderson Silva -305 vs Michael Bisping +235
All eyes will be on Anderson Silva as the former dominating champion returns from year-long absence. In January 2015, The Spider bounced back from a potentially career-ending leg break to beat Nick Diaz. Unfortunately, it was shortly thereafter that Silva was caught taking illegal supplements and suspended for a year. Now, at 40-years-old, Silva will look to take out the experienced Bisping, a fighter he’s never faced despite joining the UFC just months apart a decade ago.
The Brazilian-born superstar is one of the best Muay Thai fighters of all-time and can beat opponents in myriad ways as his 20 career KO wins, six submission wins and seven decision wins suggest. Silva won an insane 16 straight fights between 2006 and 2012 before losing a pair of fights to Chris Weidman in 2013.
36-year-old Michael Bisping is the younger and broader fighter in this bout and he’s won two straight, including his win over Leites in July. Unfortunately, Bisping has also lost three of his last seven bouts including losses to Vitor Belfort, Tim Kennedy and Luke Rockhold.
Bisping has recorded 15 of his 27 career wins via KO, four more via submission and eight by way of decision. Bisping has also been on the wrong end of two KO losses, one submission loss and four decision losses.
Fight Analysis: It’s kind of hard to predict what we’re going to see out of Anderson Silva after such a long time away, but I’m going to urge you to back him for several reasons.
First, I don’t believe that Silva is coming back to the UFC at anything less than what he considers his very best. Silva is a professional that also knows he can’t afford to lose this bout and remain significant as far as a legitimate title contender. I’m thinking Silva will win this bout via a third round submission after Bisping gets tired.
The Pick: Anderson Silva via third round submission
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