UFC 271 Fight Card: PPV Schedule, Odds, Predictions for Adesanya vs. Whittaker
UFC 271 comes to the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, with a card anchored by Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker meeting again for the middleweight title.
Adesanya's quest to become a two-division champion against Jan Blachowicz came up short, but he's proved his dominance as a middleweight. His most recent win against Marvin Vettori was his third successful defense of the title.
Now, the man he originally took the strap from has come to take it back.
Elsewhere on the card, heavy-hitter Derrick Lewis and Jared Cannonier are in action. Lewis will meet fellow knockout seeker Tai Tuivasa in the co-main event, while Cannonier will face Derek Brunson.
It's a strong card with multiple intriguing fights. Here's a look at the schedule for the evening and the questions that will be key to the biggest fights.
Main Card (10 p.m. ET, ESPN+ PPV)
Prelims (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+)
Early Prelims (6 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
The first time these two fighters got together, it wasn't a great showing for Whittaker. The former champion put up an uninspired performance against a hungry Adesanya and ended up getting knocked out in Round 2.
It remains one of Adesanya's best performances, but there is reason to believe that Whittaker will do better this time around.
For one, he should be healthier. When he fought Adesanya the first time, he was out of the cage for more than a year and was coming off an emergency abdomen surgery.
He should also be able to make some adjustments. In the first fight, Whittaker didn't attempt a single takedown. After watching Kelvin Gastelum make his fight against the champ competitive, wrestling should be a bigger factor in this one.
Whittaker is a considerable underdog here, but if he has learned from the first fight and is in better shape, he's a legitimate threat to the belt.
Prediction: Whittaker via decision
Well-rounded might be a good description for Lewis' physique, but it's not often you would describe his game that way. Lewis loves to throw big punches until his opponent isn't standing.
But that statement is even more true of Tuivasa. He's about as one-dimensional as they come. He's essentially a kickboxer who is going to hope and pray he isn't taken down. He's never taken anyone down and is only 50 percent when it comes to takedown defense.
That leaves just one path for Tuivasa to win, and that's in a slugfest. It's a strategy that generally works for him. He is on a four-fight win streak with all four fights ending by way of knockout.
It's not a strategy easily applied against Lewis, though. Tuivasa's finishes have come against guys who either didn't have the firepower to keep up (Augusto Sakai) or weren't as technically sound (Greg Hardy).
Lewis holds both advantages over the Australian. There's always a chance he happens to land the first bomb, but that's a risky game to play in this case.
Prediction: Lewis via first-round TKO
The middleweight fight between Cannonier and Brunson might be the most straightforward yet fascinating on the card.
Cannonier is a terrifying striker. A former heavyweight, he has seriously heavy hands, and he's used them to earn knockout wins over Jack Hermansson, Anderson Silva (albeit by leg kicks) and David Branch.
However, wrestling is his Achilles' heel. He rarely takes anyone down and has defended just 62 percent of takedown attempts against him.
That's Brunson's specialty. He averages 3.15 takedowns per 15 minutes and isn't ashamed to spend a whole round hunting for the takedown.
The results should be a cat-and-mouse game, which is where the straightforwardness comes in. If Brunson gets his takedowns, it's his fight to lose. That also means he has to get through three rounds without Cannonier landing a serious shot.
It's possible, but it's going to take mistake-free execution. That's a small margin for error.
Prediction: Cannonier via third-round TKO
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