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Ben Rajavuori shares a UFC 286 and March Madness plus money cross-sport parlay. Read on to see what his parlay entails.
ANALYSIS

Saturday's Picks and Parlays: Don't Miss Our Expert's Cross-Sport Parlay for Today

There are a lot of juiced lines on the UFC card tonight, which means a parlay is a great way to find value on juiced lines. For this one, I added a college basketball play on March Madness to fluff the odds up a bit more. Let's go through it.

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Saturday Cross-Sport Parlay

Leg One: UCLA ML @ -370

UCLA faces Northwestern in the second round of the NCAA tournament, and UCLA is a sizeable favorite and is -7 on the spread. UCLA was one of my favorite picks to win the tournament, and I have them winning it all in one of my two brackets. Why? Because UCLA is an extremely well-balanced team, ranking 21st in offensive efficiency and first overall in defensive efficiency on Kenpom.

Experienced leaders like Jaime Jacquez and Tyger Campbell lead UCLA. They have elite shut-down defenders in Jaylen Clark and Adem Bona, who are actually injured, but it shouldn't be enough for Northwestern to pull off the upset. Northwestern made it to the second round by beating an underwhelming offense in Boise State, but they have a much stiffer test against the balanced Bruins. Maybe UCLA doesn't cover, but they will surely win outright.

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Leg Two: Usman/Edwards Goes the Distance @ -175

There are two known facts in this fight. Leon Edwards has never been finished in his professional MMA career, and Usman has only been knocked out once. That one time was his last fight against Edwards, but let's call a fluke a fluke. Edwards was down three rounds to one, and Usman let his guard down for five seconds. I don't expect Usman to let his guard down again, and he is an incredibly tough guy to put away. Edwards is the same. Usman doesn't have immense power, to begin with. Edwards has power, but it's not easy to land cleanly on Usman for as long as the fight is even standing. Usman has landed a takedown in every round he has fought against Edwards (eight rounds), and the more this fight plays out on the ground, the less likely it is to end inside the distance. Usman and Edwards are not submission threats.

Leg Three: Gaethje/Fiziev Ends Inside the Distance @ -225

I did an article on this fight where I picked Gaethje to pull off the upset, but I like the under even more. Gaethje is the hardest hitter in the division, but he loves to be in wars. This will be a fight that both men swing with everything, and Fiziev has yet to face someone with power like Gaethje. However, as Gaethje gets older, the more he puts himself in wars and bites down on his mouthpiece to throw, the more open he is to knockout losses. Fiziev could also take this fight to the ground and submit Gaethje, as Gaethje is an excellent wrestler but not a great defensive grappler, as we have seen from him in the last few years.

Saturday Cross-Sport Three-Leg Parlay @ (+189) Bet $100 to collect $289 DraftKings has the best odds; click here to bet

  • Leg One: UCLA ML @ -370
  • Leg Two: Usman/Edwards Goes the Distance @ -175
  • Leg Three: Gaethje/Fiziev Ends Inside the Distance @ -225
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Article Author

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Ben Rajavuori is a handicapper out of Minneapolis, MN. He has been creating sports content for almost four years now and is an expert in all things NFL, MLB, NBA, UFC, and NCAAB. Ben thrives on diving deep into statistics to find the best angle on every bet. You can follow him on Twitter @WeBeatTheSpread.

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