Middleweight contender Yoel Romero (13-3, 11 KOs) will meet the hulking Paulo Henrique Costa (12-0, 11 KOs, 1 SUB) at UFC 241 on Saturday, August 17, 2019 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The main card airs live on pay-per-view starting 10pm ET.
If a 6-year old were to concoct an MMA fighter from imagination, the results might look a lot like Yoel Romero or Paulo Costa. These dudes have muscles on muscles - to the point where it’s impossible for the greater MMA community not to speculate whether they’re on that special sauce whenever either guy takes their shirt off.
What’s more, they both fight exactly how you’d expect hulks to fight: by way of smash. And this Saturday, they’ll be fighting each other in what may be one of the most violent middleweight fights in years. This is not the contest to take a bathroom break or fix yourself a snack.
Romero is currently ranked No. 2 at 185 pounds and coming off a razor thin split decision loss to Robert Whittaker. He’s always lurking as a title threat though, given his wins over every major contender in the weight class. If Israel Adesanya beats Whittaker and Romero wins here, don’t be surprised to see the Cuban in yet another title challenge.
Costa could vault into title contention with a win over Romero, and with his size and fighting style he’s an easy sell to casual fans. A 12-0 record with 12 finishes just adds to his mystique. Currently, the Brazilian is riding a four-fight winning streak in the UFC that includes knockouts of Johny Hendricks and Uriah Hall.
Let’s take a look at the UFC odds at the online sportsbook and break down your best betting options. Live UFC betting at BookMaker.eu lets you hedge your bets on fight night.
UFC odds at BookMaker.eu
Yoel Romero -165
Paulo Costa +131
Fight goes/doesn’t go to decision: +220 / -300
Significant Striking Stats
Landed per minute: Romero 3.32 / Costa 8.83
Accuracy: Romero 51% / Costa 59%
Absorbed per minute: Romero 2.95 / Costa 5.79
Defense: Romero 63% / Costa 50%
Grappling Stats
Takedown average: Romero 1.98 / Costa 0
Takedown accuracy: Romero 35% / Costa N/A
Takedown defense: Romero 78% / Costa 81%
Submission average: Romero 0 / Costa 0
UFC Odds Pick: Fight doesn’t go to decision -300
Obviously, it’s highly unlikely that this fight goes to the scorecards. But that also means that you really can’t win too much with this prop bet - so use it as a parlay booster. Both guys are simply too destructive for this the last the full 15 minutes. In fact, Costa has never once even been to the third round.
UFC Odds Pick: Romero to win at -165
The thinking here is that Romero at least has a few layers to his game. He’s proven that he can fight into the championship rounds, conserving his limited energy to a few astonishingly destructive outbursts. In addition to having one of the most vicious striking arsenals in the sport, Romero is also an Olympic-level wrestler.
That wrestling could prove to be the difference maker here. Costa has excellent takedown defense, but he has yet to face a guy with Romero’s talent in that area. In the UFC, we’ve never actually even seen Costa win by any other way than just pounding through his opponent. While that’s a lot of fun, it’s not a sustainable strategy against the elite fighters at middleweight.
Then again, nobody has ever gone full brawler on Romero before: the Cuban is far too dangerous to try and pressure. That’s what makes this fight so interesting. Does “The Eraser” have the cojones to trigger Hulk Smash mode against the original bulldozer?
At this price, we’ll take Romero’s well-rounded skillset over the more one-dimensional Costa. Our prediction: Costa charges forward in search for a knockout, only to get blasted by a signature nuclear blast from Romero in the second round.
Bet on UFC odds at the online sportsbook now!
