Read our UFC 330 predictions for this live event on Saturday from the Xfinity Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As is the new normal, the prelims kick off at 5:30 p.m. ET on Paramount+, with the main card at 9:00 p.m.
Our MMA experts went through this weekend's 12-fight lineup to identify their UFC best bets and favorite picks for the card.
You can find their analysis and picks, as well as Sean Zerillo's moneyline and prop projections, on those matches below.
UFC 330 Moneyline Projections
UFC 330 Prop Projections
Billy Ward, Staff Writer
Fighter walkouts: Approx. 10:15 p.m. ET
My favorite fight outside of the championship bouts at UFC 330 is the lightweight pairing between Jalin Turner and Kaue Fernandes.
Neither man is capable of a boring fight. Nine of Turner's last 11 bouts have ended inside the distance, and the other two were split decision slugfests in which at least one of the two fighters got knocked down. Fernandes is 3-0 in the UFC with two knockout victories and a decision win that plenty of more skiddish referees would've stopped at a few points.
What makes Fernandes so interesting is how he's finishing these fights. He's a protege of UFC legend Jose Aldo, with an Aldo-esque throwback style involving a heavy dose of leg kicks. He dropped his debut opponent with a calf kick before finishing him on the ground, landed two leg kick knockdowns in his decision win over Guram Kutateladze, and then finished Harry Hardwick with a well-placed calf kick in his last fight.
Turner has been particularly vulnerable to leg kicks throughout his career. A massive, 6'3" tall lightweight, his long skinny limbs are somewhat easy to chop down, and his wide stance makes it hard for him to check kicks. On the other hand, his wide stance and long limbs make countering kicks easy, since he has the arm reach to punch over/through opponents' kicks.
Rather than defend kicks, Turner is generally willing to eat them if it means landing a shot of his own, and he counters well to both the body and the head off his opponents' kicks. Against a powerful leg kicker like Fernandes, that's a dangerous game — and makes this a very volatile fight.
Rather than pick a side, I'm going to bet on violence here. The fight to end via knockout has gained some steam after opening at -130, but is still -143 at BetRivers. This way, we don't have to guess whether Fernandes' leg kicks or Turner's punches do the job first, as long as one of those things happens.
Pick: Turner/Fernandes Ends via KO -143 (BetRivers)
Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Machado Garry
Sean Zerillo, Senior Writer
Fighter walkouts: Approx. 8:45 p.m. ET
