Title Fights
UFC 276 preview: Adesanya puts middleweight title on the line
UFC 276 gets underway on Sunday July 3 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where Israel Adesanya will defend his middleweight title against American Jared Cannonier.
We preview the main event on a star-studded card, which also includes a featherweight title bout.
Adesanya v Cannonier
As the current middleweight champion Adesanya will be hoping to retain his belt. ‘The Last Stylebender’ remains undefeated in the middleweight division with his only loss coming against Jan Blachowicz in their light heavyweight title clash last March. With the title currently in his name, Adesanya is the 1/4 favourite for this middleweight title bout.
Cannonier comes into this fight off the back of a second round TKO win against Derek Brunson via a brutal elbow strike at UFC 271. The American has five losses to his name in his UFC career, most recently in October 2020 at the hands of Robert Whittaker, a fighter who his opponent has defeated on two separate occasions. This sees Cannonier head into the fight as the underdog at 3/1 but it feels as though it could be a closer encounter than the betting suggests.
Both fighters have a history of brutal KO and TKO wins to their name with Adesanya winning 68% by KO or TKO while Cannonier has won 67% by the same methods. If the fight is to end by way of a KO or TKO it is likely to be Adesanya who comes out victorious with odds of 11/8 for the New Zealand fighter to win by KO/TKO/DQ or submission. Cannonier is renowned for delivering some devastating knockout blows in his time but Adesanya’s superior height and reach could make it difficult for the American to get close enough to land a decisive strike making Cannonier the 5/1 underdog to win by KO/TKO/DQ or submission.
Adesanya has won seven of his fights by decision whereas his opponent has only won three. If the fight is to go the distance then it is likely that Adesanya’s superior striking frequency will see him win by decision, tipped at 5/4 to do so while Cannonier is 7/1.
Check out all the latest betting offers at William Hill
Volkanovski v Holloway
The other title fight on the UFC 276 card sees current featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski defend his belt against former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway. Holloway lost his title in the first fight between these two back in 2019.
It looks to be a tight battle with Volkanovski edging the betting as the favourite at 1/2 while his opponent is 8/5 to regain the featherweight belt.
Sunday will be the third time that these two fighters have faced off with Volkanovski winning the previous two meetings by unanimous decision first time round and a split decision in the rematch.
Volkanovski is favourite to win the bout by decision for the third time at 5/4 while Holloway is 3/1 to take back his belt should the fight go to the final bell.
With neither fighter being known for their knockout abilities it seems unlikely that the fight will end by KO or TKO. These fighters also only have a combined five wins by way of submission so that seems another unlikely way for this fight to end. This is reflected in the betting as the Australian is 11/4 to win by KO/TKO/DQ or submission while Holloway is 5/1 to end the fight before the final bell.
