UFC Fight Night Predictions: De Ridder vs. Allen Main Card Picks

• Saturday’s UFC Fight Night Vancouver is headlined by the middleweight battle between Reinier De Ridder and Brendan Allen
• De Ridder is undefeated in four UFC fights
• Check out my UFC Fight Night predictions for De Ridder vs Allen and the rest of the Main Card picks

The UFC returns to Canada this weekend for Fight Night Vancouver on Saturday. The card is headlined by the Reinier De Ridder vs Brendan Allen middleweight bout, with the winner positioning themselves for a shot at division champion Khamzat Chimaev.

The prelims are set to get underway at 1:15pm PT / 4:15pm ET on Saturday, with the Main Card fights starting at 4:15pm PT / 7:15pm ET from Rogers Arena.

Here are my UFC Fight Night predictions for my favorite fights on the card.

De Ridder vs Allen Prediction

De Ridder was actually supposed to fight Fluffy Hernandez in the Main Event, but he was forced to pull out about a month ago. Allen jumped at the chance to take his place, looking to build on his summertime win over Marvin Vettori. That victory followed a pair of disappointing defeats, including one to Hernandez who he’s replacing.

Tale of the Tape

Allen is an above average grappler with a dangerous submission game. He just recently fought in July, so the short notice shouldn’t be an issue, and he may actually be a more polished striker than De Ridder.

The problem is two-fold. One, he’s giving up a lot of size to De Ridder. The Dutch Knight stands two inches taller than Allen with a three inch reach advantage. He’s also expected to enter the ring 10-15 pounds heavier than his opponent, and that size advantage will come in handy in tight quarters.

The second issue is that De Ridder is a decorated world class grappler, with black belts in Judo and BJJ. He’s going to turn this into a grappling competition, and that’s a style of fight Allen can’t win. Allen has been far too easy to take down in recent bouts, yielding a 50% success rate on takedowns in his past two losses.

The Dutch Knight is undefeated in four UFC bouts and will use his size and superior grappling to take this match to the ground. From there he’ll dictate the bout and ultimately prevail.

• De Ridder vs Allen Pick: De Ridder to Win (-198 at DraftKings)

Holland vs Malott Prediction

Kevin Holland vs Mike Malott may not carry a ton of buzz, but this is a fight that the Vancouver crowd will be heavily invested in. That’s because Malott is a proud Canadian, who rarely fights outside his own country.

He’ll have the Canadian faithful behind him as he looks to continue his impressive run at Welterweight. Malott has been a wrecking machine at 170 pounds, racking up six victories. Five of those have been impressive finishes, with three happening inside the first round. His last fight ended with an emphatic second round knockout, and I won’t be surprised if he stops Holland early.

At this point in his career, Holland is more concerned with picking up pay cheques than W’s. Why else would he take a fifth fight in a calendar year for the second time this decade. He’s dropped five of his past eight bouts, and has been either knocked out or submitted six times. His chin isn’t what it used to be, and I’m betting Malott exposes that.

• Holland vs Malott Pick: Mallot to win by KO/TKO/DQ or Submission (+165 at DraftKings)

Vera vs Zahabi Prediction

For my last pick, I’m taking Marlon Vera to bounce back against Aiemann Zahabi. Vera has dropped three of his last four fights, but each of those losses were against bigger, stronger, and faster fighters. Zahabi doesn’t fit into any of those categories, and is less powerful than his opponent.

Also working against Zahabi, is his lack of urgency in fights. You could argue he’s even less aggressive than Vera in the early rounds, which plays right into Chito’s hands. Zahabi isn’t much of a grappler, meaning this fight will be decided on their feet. That’s a style of bout I believe Vera can win.

• Vera vs Zahabi Pick: Vera Moneyline (+110)

UFC Fight Night Vancouver Odds – Main Card

Odds as of October 18th at DraftKings. Check out the best UFC betting apps for UFC Fight Night on Saturday.

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In terms of the UFC Fight Night odds, no fighter has seen the odds move more drastically in their favor than Vera. He opened up as a +230 underdog, but that number didn’t last long. He’s been bet down to +110 and there’s still time for that line to move closer to a pick.

Elsewhere, bettors are flocking to Matt Frevola ahead of his fight with Kyle Nelson. Frevola opened as a +145 underdog, but now sits as a -120 favorite.