Ilia Topuria looks to make a statement in his first title defence against eternal fan favourite Max Holloway.

Topuria is priced as the odds-on favourite for this one, but there is value to be found in him to win on the judges’ scorecards.

The Georgian sits at over 2/1 to defend his belt going the distance, and when you look at Holloway’s record, this is not by any means out of the realms of possibility.

Yes, Topuria is giving up 4 inches in height, but you have to consider Holloway is entering the twilight of his career.

Having only lost once by finish in his entire career, Holloway’s chin is one of the greatest we have ever seen grace the octagon, so predicting him to be clipped and finished by Topuria doesn’t seem a likely possibility.

Topuria has won only twice in his career by decision, with both times coming in the UFC against Youssef Zalal and a massively one-sided win over Josh Emmet.

Holloway proved in his BMF title fight against Justin Gaethje that he can still be thrown down, but against a hungry upstart who has run through everyone at 145lbs, it seems unlikely.

The long-awaited return of Khamzat Chimaev is here, and no one really knows what to expect from the Chechen-born superstar.

It feels like an eternity since Chimaev sent shockwaves through the MMA world winning his first two UFC fights within 10 days, having barely absorbed a significant strike.

Still undefeated, the shine has somewhat soured on Chimaev in recent months.

This bout against former champion Robert Whittaker will be just his second in over two years, with health complications and political controversy shadowing his clear immense talent.

The bookies have unusually priced Chimaev as a clear betting favourite, considering his long lay-off and that he clearly struggled to make the weight for this bout, having weighed in the last of all fighters on Friday morning.

Robert Whittaker is no stranger to taking fights against and beating the more intimidating fighter on the UFC roster, just look at his back-to-back wins over Yoel Romero as proof.

The price of just shy of 2/1 seems very generous for Whittaker to win, especially when Chimaev’s gas tank looked suspect in his last bout against Kamaru Usman.

Another undefeated fighter, Manchester’s Lerone Murphy looks to continue his climb up the 145lbs rankings as he takes on the ever-game Dan Ige in Abu Dhabi.

Value is there to take Murphy on the judges’ scorecards, however, we’re taking Murphy on the nose at 1/3 in his highest-profile bout to date.

Off the back of a career-best win over Edson Barboza back in May, Murphy will look to use his superior grappling against Ige here.

Ige has often been seen as a gatekeeper for those looking to climb the rankings at featherweight. A litmus test to see if those who want to crack the top ten can.

Ige has traded wins and losses in recent years and has to be commended as someone who will fight anyone at any time. Taking a fight against Diego Lopes on just a few hours’ notice is pure lunacy and a testament to Ige’s mentality.

That being said Murphy is the younger and hungrier fighter. If anything the Mancunian was probably hoping for a higher-profile fight after his Barboza win, but Ige will have to do and this is one that Murphy should win to continue his undefeated record.

Our final bout of this accumulator, and another featuring an undefeated fighter.

‘Shara Bullet’ has not exactly set the world alight since debuting in the promotion back in October 2023, yet he still boasts a 3-0 record in the organisation and 14-0 overall.

His striking has looked on point, however, his wrestling and grappling have been called into question – a first perhaps for a Dagestani-born fighter.

It bodes well for Magomedov that the UFC has matched him up against a striker in Armen Petrosyan, another Russian-born fighter with a modest 9-3 professional record.

Petrosyan has collected a 3-2 record since debuting in the UFC off the back of a strong Contender Series performance, but this has all the making of a match-up used to boost Magomedov’s stock.

If ‘Shara Bullet’ was up against an out-and-out grappler, there would be a discussion to be had, but six of Petrosyan’s wins have come by way of KO/TKO. Backing Magomedov to win on the nose looks the smart choice here.