UFC Vegas 27 main card predictions & betting picks – 22/5/2021

The Ultimate Fighting Championship continues its recent trend of providing fantastic matchups with this UFC Vegas 27 card on Saturday. Fresh off of a UFC 262 event that saw an evenly matched main event and no favorites of shorter than -200 on the main card, this weekend’s bill features a tough-to-call bantamweight matchup between Rob Font and Cody Garbrandt in the main event slot and no big favorites again in the fights leading up to the headline event.

Women’s Strawweight: Yan Xiaonan (-120) vs Carla Esparza (+100)

Yan Xiaonan (13-1-0) is 11-0 over her last 11 fights with a 6-0 record thus far in the UFC. Xiaonan’s only professional loss came as a 21-year-old all the way back in 2010 in her third career fight. She has developed into an outstanding strawweight since then and could find herself in line for a UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship fight with a win in this bout.

Carla Esparza (17-6-0) was the inaugural strawweight champion in both Invicta FC and the UFC. Esparza hit a 3-4 slump immediately after winning the belt, but in recent years she has found a career resurgence on the heels of four straight wins, most recently defeating Marina Rodriguez in July.

This is a classic clash of styles, as Xiaonan is the superior striker and Esparza is the superior wrestler. The fight will likely go to the cards and could go either way, but Xiaonan’s strong takedown defense and high striking output should earn her enough points to pass this test.

Heavyweight: Justin Tafa (-185) vs Jared Vanderaa (+160)

Justin Tafa (4-2-0) has gone a disappointing 1-2 in the UFC since entering the promotion with a 3-0 record and three knockout wins. Jared Vanderaa (11-5-0) had an unsuccessful UFC debut in February when he was knocked out by Sergey Spivak. Neither of these big men instill much confidence, but Tafa is the more athletic of the two and should have the edge in this one.

Women’s Featherweight: Felicia Spencer (-157) vs Norma Dumont Viana (+137)

Felicia Spencer (8-2-0) went 6-0 in Invicta before entering the UFC, where she has gone 2-2. Her two losses came against Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes, two of the best women’s fighters in the world, and Spencer showed off her toughness in not getting stopped by either of them. Norma Dumont Viana (5-1-0) is 1-1 so far in the UFC with a knockout loss to Megan Anderson and a decision win over Ashlee Evans-Smith. Spencer has dominated all but her most elite opponents and should have little trouble earning a win here.

Flyweight: David Dvorak (-144) vs Raulian Paiva (+124)

David Dvorak (19-3-0) is 15-0 over his last 15 fights, including a 2-0 start to his UFC career with wins over Bruno Silva and Jordan Espinosa. Raulian Paiva (20-3-0) has bounced back from back-to-back losses to open his UFC career with wins over Mark De La Rosa and Zhalgas Zhumagulov. Dvorak is a versatile fighter with eight knockouts and seven submission wins on his resume and is tough to pick against given how complete of a prospect he is.

Middleweight: Jack Hermansson (-150) vs Edmen Shahbazyan (+130)

Jack Hermansson (21-6-0) was on a four-fight winning streak before dropping two of his last three fights. Edmen Shahbazyan (11-1-0) suffered the first loss of his professional career against Derek Brunson in August after opening his career with a 10-0 record with nine knockouts. Hermansson’s recent losses have come against two legitimate contenders in Jared Cannonier and Marvin Vettori. With all due respect to Shahbazyan, he isn’t quite at this level yet.