Odds format
â–¾
NJ
â–¾
United States
Canada
Betslip
Share to Facebook
Share to Twitter
Copy Link
Dana White's Contender Series Season 7 Week 4 is on tonight. Ben Rajavuori is breaking down the Yousri Belgaroui vs. Marco Tulio fight and sharing his pick for another fight on the card. Read on to see what his Contender Series best bets are.
ANALYSIS

Yousri Belgaroui vs. Marco Tulio Prediction: Tail This Expert's Contender Series Week 4 Best Bets

The coveted Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series is back for week 4 from the UFC Apex center in Las Vegas, Nevada, with ten UFC hopefuls all fighting for a contract from the man himself at the end of the episode. The show finally got its first UFC champion, Sean O'Malley, at UFC 292, which will now draw even more eyes to the prospects that Dana White brings on. It seems that nowadays, the best chance at getting a UFC contract is to come on the show and score a win, preferably a finish, and impress Dana. These are two of my favorite fights and subsequently two of my favorite picks on tonight's card.

Yousri Belgaroui vs. Marco Tulio Prediction

Yousri Belgaroui enters this fight with just a 5-2 record in MMA, but don't let that fool you. Belgaroui has an extensive career in kickboxing, including a total record of 27-7 with 13 knockouts. During that time, Belgaroui matched up with some of the best fighters in the world, including UFC former champion Alex Pereira and current UFC champion Israel Adesanya. Belgaroui went 1-2 against Pereira and 0-2 against Adesanya, although the second loss was a split decision. He was only knocked out in one of those five fights against the UFC's top. Even though he went 1-4, he got vast experience from those fights and has fought the tougher competition between him and his opponent, Marco Tulio.

Marco Tulio is more well-rounded in the sense that he has decent grappling. He mixes in takedowns when he fights along with his kickboxing, but I don't think he will get Belgaroui to the ground. Belgaroui is the much larger fighter in this fight, standing at 6' 5" compared to the 6' 0" Tulio. Belgaroui is a master at keeping his distance and staying out of range, and he will also have a five-inch reach advantage, so Tulio closing the distance to land a takedown will be very difficult against Belgarouri.

At the end of the day, Belgaroui is the very rightful favorite in this matchup. His boxing is lightyears ahead of Tulio's, and he has fought much better competition in his career. This will not even be his hardest fight to date, but the same can't be said for Tulio. This reminds me of Pereira barreling through lower-level MMA competition on his way to the UFC belt. Belgaroui will knock this guy out.

Yousri Belgaroui vs. Marco Tulio Pick

Pick: Yousri Belgaroui ML -134 is currently the best odds. Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds for this pick

Thomas Petersen vs. Chandler Cole Prediction

This is, in my opinion, the most exciting fight on the card tonight. It may not be the most technical fight we will see, but it is the most exciting. Thomas "the train" Petersen has spent all but one of his fights under the LFA promotion, which is one of the more notorious promotions under the UFC. As such, he has fought some pretty good competition, including a title fight against Waldo Cortes-Acosta, who is in the UFC right now. Three of the last four opponents he has faced have had winning records.

On the other side stands Chandler Cole. Cole has been around a bit but has spent most of his professional MMA career in Showcase MMA. While Cole enters this fight with more wins, he has faced more lower-level competition, and his opponent's combined record is 34-64.

Both men like to wrestle, but if Cole opts for this route, he will be met with a very strong Petersen. Petersen has his MMA background in wrestling and is an overall strong man who can throw heavyweights around like nothing. This is where my worry comes for Cole. Cole is not a natural heavyweight, standing at just 5' 10". He is very small for a heavyweight, and his more natural weight class would definitely be at light heavyweight. Still, he weighs in near the limit, as he weighed in at 264 pounds for this showcase, and you can tell by his frame that he has a lot of unnecessary extra weight on his build. You can also tell he is not built for this weight class because he already has two knockouts on the regional scene and one in PFL. He also has one on The Ultimate Fighter.

Thomas Petersen is a very fast starter in fights, and his strength advantage will shine through from the first 30 seconds of this fight. I expect Petersen to take Cole down quickly and land his signature devastating ground and pound that has finished most of his fights. Petersen is a massive favorite, but FanDuel is offering +100 for him to finish this one in the first round. That is how this fight likely ends.

Thomas Petersen vs. Chandler Cole Pick

Pick: Thomas Petersen Wins by KO/TKO in Round 1 +100 is currently the best odds. Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds for this pick

Article Author

NCAABBoxing/MMAMLBNHL

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.

0Betslip

Almost there!

We are loading your bets, and they will be here in a second.