UFC Vegas 30 main card preview & betting picks – June 26, 2021

This Saturday’s UFC card in Las Vegas is highlighted by a heavyweight clash in the main event of Ciryl Gane vs Alexander Volkov. The co-main event also features two heavyweights in Tanner Boser and Ovince St. Preux in one of five exciting matchups leading into the night’s main event.

Heavyweight: Tanner Boser (-175) vs Ovince St. Preux (+150)

Tanner Boser (19-8-1) opened his UFC career with a 3-1 record, and his only loss during that stretch came against the undefeated Ciryl Gane. But his momentum has slowed down over his last two fights in decision losses to Andrei Arlovski and Ilir Latifi. Boser will get a crack at another aging veteran on Saturday night facing Ovince St. Preux.

St. Preux (25-15) returns to heavyweight after an unsuccessful debut against Ben Rothwell in 2020. The 38-year-old has spent most of his career at light heavyweight and is just 2-4 over his last six fights. Both of these fighters enter this fight with red flags, but on paper this looks like a good matchup for Boser; St. Preux doesn’t have the power to hurt him and Boser’s edge in aggression should lead to an eventual victory on points.

Bantamweight: Raoni Barcelos (-220) vs Timur Valiev (+185)

Raoni Barcelos (16-1-0) is a perfect 9-0 in night fights since suffering the only loss of his career back in 2014. Barcelos is off to a 5-0 start in the UFC and will face an interesting test this Saturday in Timur Valiev. Valiev (17-2) is 17-1 over his last 18 fights and enters this fight on a seven-fight win streak. That streak is intact thanks to Valiev’s knockout loss in his UFC debut against Trevin Jones being overturned due to Jones testing positive for marijuana after the fight. Barcelos should hand Valiev his first official loss since 2016 this weekend.

Featherweight: Andre Fili (-225) vs Daniel Pineda (+190)

Andre Fili (21-8-0) entered the UFC with a 12-1 record back in 2013 and has recorded a mediocre 9-7 record since then. Daniel Pineda (27-14-0) returned to the UFC in 2020 after being cut from the promotion with four straight losses back in 2014. Pineda defeated Herbert Burns in his return to the UFC but was knocked out by Cub Swanson in his next bout. Fili deserves to be the favorite here, but Pineda had won seven straight fights (including two fights that were later overturned due to a positive drug test) by stoppage before his loss to Swanson. He’s dangerous enough to take a shot on at this price.

Welterweight: Tim Means (-135) vs Nicolas Dalby (+115)

Tim Means (31-12-1) produced a solid performance and showed off a strong chin in his last win against Mike Perry, improving to 2-0 over his last two fights since going 3-5 over his previous eight bouts. Nicolas Dalby (19-3-1) is 5-0 over his last five fights and is off to a 2-0 start (not including a loss to Jesse Ronson that was overturned due to a positive drug test) in his return to the UFC after being cut from the promotion with a 1-2-1 record back in 2016. This should be a good and competitive fight that could go either way, making Dalby the play getting underdog odds.

Prediction: Nicolas Dalby by Decision

Lightweight: Renato Moicano (-235) vs Jai Herbert (+200)

Renato Moicano (14-4-1) is just 1-3 over his last four fights since opening his career with a 13-1-1 record. Jai Herbert (10-2-0) entered the UFC with six straight wins (including five knockouts) before getting knocked out by Francisco Trinaldo in his UFC debut last July. Each of Moicano’s last three losses have come by way of knockout, and Herbert has the power to continue that trend. Moicano most likely get the job done with a submission win, but the value is once again on the underdog in this one.