UFC Fight Night Select fight betting preview. Hall vs Silva

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After an unforeseen retirement last week, losing a legend of the sport in Khabib Nurmagomedov, we move forward to a planned retirement of another legend. This will be the final fight for Anderson Silva in the main event as he faces off against Uriah Hall. Despite a main event that doesn’t bring much consequence in terms of how the result affects the larger picture, this card has the potential to be a fun and impressive one as a follow up to UFC 254, which absolutely delivered. Let’s get to the select fights. 

Uriah Hall -230 vs Anderson Silva

Fight is five rounds at 185 lbs and is -115 to end inside the distance. 

The farewell to Silva comes in something of an underwhelming fight, but it will be a piece of history as he concludes his historic career. He still brings the skill set he has always had to the octagon, the problem for him is he brings the athleticism of a 45 year old, which is understandable as he is 45 years old. His strikes simply don’t bring the same level of danger the younger version of himself did, and he has just one win and zero finish wins since 2012 and is 1-6-1 in his last eight fights. Silva will not be just a sitting duck, but he will be overmatched against Hall. 

Hall is a fighter that has had more mental setbacks than physical in his career and barring a mental hiccup, this should be an easy fight for him to take over. Hall has an elite jab and the simplicity of jabs and leg kicks set him up for a somewhat easy path to victory in this particular matchup. Once Hall slows Silva, he can unleash some power shots and he is quite likely to find a finish. For Silva, even if he is able to land shots on Hall, that finishing ability he once had has been mitigated by time, if not eliminated completely. It would be something of a true shocker to see him end this one inside the distance. If we eliminate that finish as a path to victory, it is difficult to envision a decision win over five rounds when the Hall jabs and leg kicks will cumulatively take their toll. This line is not as wide as it should be and there is value on Hall flat at -230. The Hall ITD line of +170 may bring even more value and one of those would be the proper avenue of attack in this main event. 

The Line Movement MMA Betting Show

Bryce Mitchell -150 vs Andre Fili

Fight is at 145 lbs and is -110 to end inside the distance

This is a bit of phenomenal match making. Giving Mitchell the massive step up he wants and giving him his toughest test to date in Andre Fili. Perhaps worth initially noting, Mitchell will be debuting the official camo fight trunks, for any UFC fashionistas out there. Mitchell brings a great deal of hype at the moment, and he is an extremely dangerous grappler, but his ability to initiate grappling sequences is nothing close to a foregone conclusion in this matchup. Mitchell, as always, will press to get the fight to the floor and go to work, but Fili may very well have all of the answers for that game plan. Fili’s takedown defense is quite sound, and he has both the ability to get up and the ability to attack submissions from his back. Fili is the better wrestler and a competent BJJ player, but he would be at a large disadvantage if he were to be forced to be settled into bottom position. That is the scenario Fili needs to avoid, so he can dominate the fight in the area he has a massive advantage, and that is in the stand up. Fili is truly levels above Mitchell in this department, and if Fili keeps it standing and we see predominantly a kickboxing fight, he will absolutely run away with this one. 

I touched on the hype behind Mitchell at the moment, and twister submissions like he put on Matt Sayles will bring that, but that hype is advantageous for gamblers at the moment. Simply put, that hype has the wrong fighter favored in this matchup. Fili is the superior striker and wrestler, and has the tools needed to take Mitchell off the game plan he wants to employ, which will turn Mitchell to a sitting duck. Staying off of his back leads to an easy win for Fili, and that is the most likely scenario. Big value on the underdog here and Fili +130 is a fantastic play.