Gavin Tucker (+128) vs. Dan Ige (-152)
Weight Class: Featherweight (145 lbs)
This UFC featherweight showcase between Dan Ige and Gavin Tucker is my stand out Fight of the Night candidate. Both fighters have plenty of momentum, are incredibly evenly matched and find themselves in a stacked division. Everything points to this being a great match-up.
As far as a breakdown goes, I’ll keep this one brief. For me, this is too tough to pick a winner.
Dan Ige has incredibly heavy hands for his size and manages distance well. He isn’t a short fighter that can be outworked and he’s held his own against elite strikers in Calvin Kattar and Edson Barboza. Though the Barboza fight was razor close and he lost decisively to Calvin Kattar, the Hawaiian went five rounds and has shown he has a chin.
As far as submission defense goes, Ige trains with Khabib and it shows. He has insane scrambles and has worked his way out of some tight submissions. So it’s tough for me to see Ige getting finished, though anything is possible.
For Gavin Tucker, he is coming off of a huge win over Billy Quarantillo and will be looking to keep the train rolling. The Canadian has excellent boxing and has very good BJJ, though these two somewhat cancel it out.
At the end of the day I could see either guy taking this one, but I definitely think the fight goes to the cards. FanDuel Sportsbook has this at (-210), which is an excellent parlay prop.
Prediction and play: Fight to go the distance (-210)
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