UFC Fight Night 280: Yusuff vs. Barboza Main Card Betting Preview

For the third straight week, UFC fans will have to deal with an event at the puny UFC Apex in Las Vegas. However, Dana White and company did make up for it somewhat with a pretty solid main card. The main event will see two top 15 featherweights going toe to toe in No. 11 Sodiq Yusuff and No. 13 Edson Barboza. Yusuff comes in as the slim moneyline favorite on most UFC betting sites in what should be an entertaining scrap.

UFC Fight Night 280: Sodiq Yusuff vs. Edson Barboza Main Card Betting Odds - October 14th

The main card will also feature women’s flyweight contenders Jennifer Maia (No. 9) and Viviane Aruajo (No. 11) squaring off in the co-main event. The third fight of the main card will be a bantamweight fight between No. 13 Jonathan Martinez and No. 14 Adrian Yanez. All odds provided by Sports Interaction.

No. 11 Sodiq Yusuff vs. No. 13 Edson Barboza Featherweight Main Event Fight Odds

Sodiq Yusuff (13-2) is coming off of a pretty long layoff due to multiple herniated discs in his back, having last fought over a year ago when he was able to lock in a guillotine on Don Shainis thirty seconds in. In the Nigerian’s path stands Edson Barboza (23-11), a veteran of a whopping 28 UFC fights.

While the 30-year-old Yusuff is the far younger fighter, the 37-year-old Barboza does hold pretty significant four- and two-inch advantages in reach and height, respectively.

Since earning a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2018, Yusuff has won a lot, going 6-1 with his only loss coming via decision to Arnold Allen, who is currently the fourth-ranked fighter in the division. Barboza, meanwhile, had lost seven of ten fights before he demolished Billy Quarantillo with a knee in his most recent fight in April.

While Yusuff is certainly a solid boxer, he doesn’t have many advantages here apart from his massive power. Barboza is a more precise boxer and he’s an elite Muay Thai fighter, which means he should be able to touch Yusuff up with kicks and also jabs considering that reach advantage.

Barboza has fought much higher quality fighters than Yusuff, and he’s trained for five round fights before. Considering this fight was upgraded to five rounds only a month ago, it’s a big question mark whether Yusuff has the gas tank to go all the way here.

With +140 odds on the moneyline, the veteran Barboza seems like the way to go here. If you can’t wrestle Barboza or keep him at range, you’re going to have a long night, and considering neither of those are Yusuff’s strong points, the Nigerian should be in for said long night.

No. 9 Jennifer Maia vs. No. 11 Viviane Araujo Women’s Flyweight Co-Main Event Fight Odds

This battle of Brazilian women is not as tough to call as it might seem based on the odds. Jennifer Maia (21-9-1) and Viviane Araujo (11-5) are both well-rounded and scrappy fighters, but Maia has had more success against quality opponents.

More importantly, she’s had more recent success, having won her last two fights in a row while Araujo comes in having lost three of her last four. Maia is also the better striker with the higher motor. If Araujo wants to be able to hang, she’ll have to get back to mixing in takedowns, which she hasn’t been doing recently.

Maia never got her signature win against one of the big dogs, but against everyone else, she’s been lights out. We’re rolling with Maia to win by decision at -125 considering 14 of Maia’s last 15 fights went the distance and the same goes for Araujo’s last eight in a row.

No. 13 Jonathan Martinez vs. No. 14 Adrian Yanez Bantamweight Fight Odds

Jonathan Martinez (18-4) and Adrian Yanez (16-4) will be in a toss up on Saturday, and for good reason. Both men are 29, both are 5’7”, both have a 70-inch reach, both are from the Southern US, and both have just four pro losses to their names.

However, one place where they differ is in the fact that Martinez is coming off a solid win over Said Nurmagomedov while Yanez is coming off of a brutal defeat at the hands of Rob Font. Martinez is the smarter boxer and he’s also the more well-rounded fighter in terms of grappling and takedown defense. Both of these guys are finishers, but both have only been TKO’d once in their careers, so we’re going with Martinez via decision at +275 odds here.