UFC on ESPN: Blachowicz vs. Rakic Betting Preview

There is a lot of anticipation for the next UFC promotion this weekend after Michael Chandler’s stunning knockout of Tony Ferguson at UFC 274 last Saturday. Former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz will be in action for this promotion, and UFC Women’s Flyweight challenger Katlyn Chookagian will be on the undercard. While Chookagian is favored by the UFC betting odds in her fight, MMA betting sites have Blachowicz as a moderate underdog to Aleksander Rakic.

UFC on ESPN: Blachowicz vs. Rakic will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2022, from the UFC Apex Training Center in Enterprise, Nevada. The prelims will start at 7:30 p.m. ET, and the main card will get underway at 10 p.m. ET. This entire event will be broadcast on both ESPN2 and ESPN+.

UFC on ESPN: Blachowicz vs. Rakic Betting Odds at SugarHouse Sportsbook

Aleksandar Rakic -182
Jan Blachowicz +145

We saw Jan Blachowicz join the UFC after dominating the KSW in Poland for a few years. It took Blachowicz some time to get his feet under him, as he lost four of his first six fights. However, he started to turn things around five years ago. Blachowicz won three bonuses in his next four fights before losing to Thiago Santos.

He bounced back from that defeat with three straight wins to face Dominick Reyes for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 253, and he scored a second-round TKO to claim the title. Blachowicz successfully defended the belt against Israel Adesanya last March, but he faltered against Glover Teixeira.

Although Blachowicz lost his last fight, he shouldn’t be this much of an underdog by the UFC betting odds. Aleksander Rakic is 6-1 since joining the UFC, and he has impressive wins over Devin Clark, Anthony Smith, and Santos. However, Rakic has yet to take part in a fight that lasted more than three rounds.

Rakic is three inches taller than Blachowicz, but they have the exact same reach. The favorite has the youth in this fight, but there are concerns about his stamina. Additionally, Blachowicz has a proven ground game, and he can punish Rakic on the mat.

Ion Cutelaba -225
Ryan Spann +180

After winning his first four fights in the UFC, Ryan Spann has struggled over the last couple years. He has lost two of his last three fights, and all three of those bouts were over in the first round. To his credit, Spann knocked out Misha Cirkunov, but he was knocked out by Johnny Walker and submitted by Anthony Smith.

There are questions about whether Ion Cutelaba should be this much of a favorite by the UFC odds. Cutelaba is 2-3-1 in his last six fights, and he doesn’t have much of a ground game. His win over Devin Clark isn’t too impressive considering Clark has lost to every real contender at light heavyweight, so Spann has a pretty good chance of pulling off the upset on Saturday night.

Katlyn Chookagian -175
Amanda Ribas +136

The best bet on the whole card is for Katyln Chookagian and Amanda Ribas to go the distance. The MMA fight odds at SugarHouse Sportsbook have this fight going all three rounds set at -230.

Chookagian has seen 12 of her 14 fights decided by the judges since joining the UFC, and the only two exceptions have been knockout losses to Jessica Andrade and Valentina Shevchenko. We have not seen real knockout power from Ribas since she joined the UFC as she is 5-1 in the promotion with three of her wins coming by decision and two of her wins coming by submission.

Chookagian is the deserved favorite in this fight too. She challenged for the UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship just two years ago, and she has won three straight fights since her loss to Andrade in October 2020. Her track record is far more impressive than that of Ribas.

Ribas has yet to face a truly elite opponent aside from Mackenzie Dern. It’s hard to read too much into her other wins, and she recently was knocked out by Marina Rodriguez at UFC 257. Expect Chookagian to control the match and win a unanimous decision.