UFC heads to Paradise, Nevada for its most stacked instalment in recent years. With two title fights scheduled, along with a bout for the unofficial BMF belt, find the full card for Saturday’s event here along with Lucky Block’s UFC 300 predictions and tips.
UFC 300 Betting Tips
- Zhang Weili To Win by Unanimous Decision @ 19/10
- Max Holloway To Win @ 133/100
- Alex Pereira To Win By KO/TKO @ 69/50
Back all three as an accumulator on Lucky Block at odds of 56/5 – A £10 stake would return £122
UFC 300 Predictions and Fight Previews
Zhang Weili vs Xiaonan Yan
- UFC Women’s Strawweight Title
This all-Chinese strawweight title fight has the potential to be the defining event on the card, and almost certainly would have been the headline meeting if it had been held in their native China, as planned.
Zhang Weili is a two-time champion in this weight class, successfully defending it at least once in each stint, and she will surpass Rose Namajunas on most strawweight title fights this weekend (5).
Despite losing twice to Rose in 2021, she has since bounced back to great effect against Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Carla Esparza and Amanda Lemos. Particularly in her bout with the latter, Zhang rag-dolled the Brazilian last August to win by unanimous decision, and we are expected a similar result here.
She has spent much of her time training with Henry Cejudo, which was reflected in a significant improvement in her grappling and domination on the ground.
Xiaonan Yan can count herself somewhat fortunate to be handed this opportunity, with many observers seeing it as more of a marketable opportunity for Chinese pay-per-view rather than a genuine title shot.
Nevertheless, she comes into this weekend off the back of a strong knockout win over Jessica Andrade in November, but the rest of her record pales in comparison to the champion.
Zhang has shown her adaptability to different types of fighters throughout her career, and is superior in speed, stamina and striking combinations. Yan is also fairly unproven on the ground, somewhere where Zhang should look to take advantage in a rapidly improving part of her fighter profile.
Tip: Zhang Weili To Win by Unanimous Decision
Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway
- ‘BMF’ (Baddest Motherf****r) Title
In what will be only the third ever BMF title fight since its inception in 2019, Max Holloway will be looking to strip current holder Justin Gaethje of this unofficial belt.
Born out of Nate Diaz’s comical speech at UFC 241, this has proven a popular, albeit rare occurrence on a card.
Although Pereira and Hill headline the weekend’s proceedings, this particular fight has garnered an equal amount of interest given how evenly poised it appears to be.
Justin Gaethje is a master of chaos, and the current BMF champion boasts the heaviest leg kicks in the lightweight division, devastating knockout blows and the cardio to match. His almost comically high accuracy percentage – a 60% landing rate to be exact – is by far his most redeeming feature however.
Conversely, his tendency to try and land heavy hitting blows on his opponents also leaves his guard open, and against Max Holloway this could prove perilous.
This could well be a five-round skirmish, which could favour Holloway’s superior stamina. There really is little to separate the two in terms of striking ability and power, but Holloway’s notoriously iron-clad chin could be the difference.
He has never been dropped before, and although Gaethje is about the likeliest opponent to do change that, the value lies with Holloway.
Expect a slog-fest.
Tip: Max Holloway to Win
Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill
- UFC Light Heavyweight Title
To round off our predictions, we finish with the main event on the UFC 300 card as Alex Pereira defends his light heavyweight title, in only his third fight in this weight class.
The former middleweight champion comes up against a rambunctious Jamahal Hill who appears desperate to snatch back the belt he once held, before it became vacant after his injury.
At number one in the rankings, he has all the necessary tools in his arsenal to worry Pereira – his unrelenting kickboxing power and dynamic range should make this a closer fight than many are predicting.
However, Pereira is simply one of the most terrifying fighters to step into the octagon. He has the cold, calculated ability to lure his opponents into a suitable striking range, just as we saw in his elbows TKO against Prochazka in November.
Despite beating Glover Teixiera in his last appearance over a year ago, Hill was caught clean on more than one occasion and his aggressive style often leaves him vulnerable to counter strikes. Against a fighter as brutal with counter leg kicks and strikes as Pereira, he could begin to chip away at Hill’s stamina with consistent body shots early on.
Tip: Pereira to Win by KO/TKO
UFC 300 Full Card and Preliminary
Main Card
Alex Pereira (C) vs Jamahal Hill (light-heavyweight title)
Zhang Weili (C) vs Yan Xiaonan (women’s strawweight title)
Justin Gaethje (C) vs Max Holloway (‘BMF’ title – lightweight)
Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan (lightweight)
Bo Nickal vs Cody Brundage (middleweight)
Preliminary
Jiri Prochazka vs Aleksandar Rakic (light-heavyweight)
Calvin Kattar vs Aljamain Sterling (featherweight)
Holly Holm vs Kayla Harrison (women’s bantamweight)
Sodiq Yusuff vs Diego Lopes (featherweight)
Early Preliminary
Jalin Turner vs Renato Moicano (lightweight)
Jessica Andrade vs Marina Rodriguez (women’s strawweight)
Bobby Green vs Jim Miller (lightweight)
Deiveson Figueiredo vs Cody Garbrandt (bantamweight)
