The women’s bantamweight division will make an appearance this weekend as part of the main card for UFC Fight Night 185. Ketlen Vieira vs Yana Kunitskaya. Vieira is an impressive young fighter who’s looking to continue her dominant campaign. Kunitskaya enters this matchup as the betting underdog, and there’s good value to be found if you want to bank on an upset.
The UFC will once again make its mark in Las Vegas on February 20, 2021. A slew of thrilling fights are scheduled for the main card of UFC Fight Night 185. Among those is Ketlen Vieira vs Yana Kunitskaya, who will be duking it out in the women’s bantamweight division. MMA predictions and the top UFC bettings sites are giving the nod to Vieira, whose takedown prowess will be difficult for Kunitskaya to contend with. Ketlen “Fenomeno” Vieira has looked good recently and is fresh off a unanimous decision victory against Sijara Eubanks. Thus far, she’s been fantastic in her UFC career, losing just once against Irene Aldana back on December 14, 2019. She closed as the betting favorite for that fight, but she got rocked early on as Aldana caught her by surprise and finished her with a KO/TKO victory. That’s undoubtedly a comforting thought for Kunitskaya, who disappointed in her UFC opener against Cris Cyborg but has done well to keep it together, winning three of her previous four fights. The last time we saw Kunitskaya was in August 2020, when she landed 43 strikes against Julija Stoliarenko, leading her to a unanimous decision victory. She should have some confidence when she faces Vieira on Saturday night. Vieira is a phenomenal MMA fighter with great all-around technical skill, but her specialty is on the ground, while Kunitskaya relies on staying balanced to land powerful strikes. I’m having a hard time picking a winner for this match. Vieira is slightly bigger physically and probably the better fighter overall, but Kunitskaya is a good striker and can do some damage if she’s accurate enough. NJ online sportsbook reviews and the top betting sites in NJ list Vieira as the betting favorite, but there’s good value if you bet on Kunitskaya. BetMGM has the best underdog moneyline odds at +230, so that’s what I’m rolling with.
Vieira is an excellent fighter who could very well make Kunitskaya’s life miserable with her takedown abilities. Still, for the betting value, I like Kunitskaya to get a few good strikes in and take this one. My prediction: Kunitskaya win by KO/TKO in the 3rd round.
