Conor McGregor is the biggest name in mixed martial arts, and his return Saturday night is appointment viewing.
After five years away from the octagon recovering from a shattered tibia and fibula he suffered in July 2021, he’s back to face Max Holloway.
It’s a loaded card at UFC 329 that will garner tons of attention, as McGregor will get a ton of public eyeballs from fans who don’t often watch MMA.
Ten of the 14 fights on the card are projected to end inside the distance, as the UFC loves to book some squash matches for prospects.
Here are our predictions for the full UFC 329 card:
UFC 329 predictions
Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway
McGregor is a public darling. His odds opened at +420 and have been bet all the way down to +175.
He’s skilled in the ways of striking. At his peak, he was the exception to so many rules about one-dimensional fighters.
McGregor has enough power in the sport that he was able to force Holloway to move up to 170 pounds for this fight after the Hawaiian appeared at 145 pounds just 20 months ago before going up to 155.
It’s an obscene ask by McGregor, but it does give him a legitimate edge. McGregor has been fighting mainly at 170 pounds since 2016, when he took on Nate Diaz.
These two fought previously at featherweight in 2013 — but that fight was so long ago that you can’t really take anything from it.
Given the incredible dip in odds on Holloway, and McGregor having not fought since 2021 with an injury that no one has come back from successfully, I’ll take the favorite.
When is the last time McGregor looked really good in a fight? Holloway beat the brakes off Arnold Allen, beat Yair Rodriguez and while he was knocked out by Ilia Topuria, that fight was plenty competitive.
I think Holloway is a gift at -210 odds, and he should win this one going away.
Predictions: Holloway moneyline for parlays; Holloway wins in Over 4.5 minutes (-140, DraftKings)
Benoît Saint Denis vs. Paddy Pimblett
An absolute banger co-main event in the lightweight division, as Paddy Pimblett faces Benoît Saint Denis, a former French special forces soldier.
The Frenchman has been on a roll, winning four in a row and all by finish.
Pimblett is coming off a loss to Justin Gaethje — who is now the lightweight champion — but was undefeated in the UFC before that.
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From a betting angle, Saint Denis is a very interesting fighter who packs the bigger punching power, but there are legitimate concerns about his cardio.
When Pimblett recently spoke to The Post, he said he intended to drag his opponent into deep water and get a finish in Round 3 — if it got that far. I like that angle. Saint Denis makes some foolish errors in the grappling. We saw Dustin Poirier nearly submit him multiple times with lazy takedown attempts.
If you do that against Pimblett, he will submit you. That’s worth a stab, to be sure, and I love the odds at FanDuel.
Prediction: Pimblett by submission in Rounds 2 or 3 (12/1, FanDuel).
Rest of the card
Cory Sandhagen vs. Mario Bautista: Sandhagen by decision (+190, BetRivers).
Brandon Royval vs. Lone’er Kavanagh: Kavanagh by decision (+140, theScore Bet).
King Green vs. Terrance McKinney: McKinney wins in Round 1 (+104, BetRivers).
Nikita Krylov vs. Robert Whittaker: Whittaker by decision (+270, FanDuel).
Gable Steveson vs. Elisha Ellison: Pass
Cody Garbrandt vs. Adrian Yanez: Yanez by KO/TKO (+100, BetRivers).
Luke Riley vs, Kai Kamaka III: Riley by decision (+120, FanDuel).
Tracy Cortez vs. Wang Cong: Wang by decision (+245, BetRivers).
Damian Pinas vs. Cesar Almeida: Pinas by submission (13/1 BetRivers).
Farid Basharat vs. John Garza: Basharat by submission (+155, FanDuel).
Ryan Gandra vs. Zachary Reese: Reese by submission (+450, theScore Bet).
Alessandro Costa vs. Cody Durden: Durden by decision (+470, Prophetx/FanDuel).
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he’s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
