It’s a battle of heavyweights when a UFC legend faces off with a young fighter with an impressive record as #6 Alistair Overeem faces #9 Augusto Sakai as the main event of UFC on ESPN 9 this Saturday live from the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas.
The future Hall-of-Famer Overeem is 46-18-1, and has won three of his last four after knocking out Walt Harris on May 16th in Jacksonville. The former Strikeforce champion has many of the promotion career records at heavyweight, but has never been champion of the division in the UFC. At age 40, the Dutchman averages 3.66 significant strikes per minute and 1.40 takedowns per 15 minutes in the octagon. His first MMA fight was in October of 1999, and has fought in the UFC alone 18 times.
Sakai is a small underdog with a big heart, and his path to a shot at Stipe Miocic’s title goes through here. His record of 15-1-1 includes 11 knockouts and no submissions, and he’s 4-0 with two stoppages since joining the UFC main roster via a KO win at Dana White’s Contender Series. His last outing was on May 30th at the Apex, a split decision win over Blagoy Ivanov. With just one career UFC takedown, he averages 5.45 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 3.89, and defends 83% of takedowns attempted against him.
Here are the betting odds at DraftKings Sportsbook for Alistair Overeem and Augusto Sakai at UFC Fight Night on September 5th.
Money line odds
Alistair Overeem: -175
Augusto Sakai: +140
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