Name: Benoit Saint-Denis
Opponent: Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
Odds: +172 (bet $100 to win $172) **Odds at FanDuel Sportsbook
A lot of people thought that dos Santos was going to rise up the welterweight ranks and get things done. While his fun striking style has remained, the grappling chops have exposed themselves a bit, giving way to a 1-2 record over his last three fights. The bane of those losses has been his inability to get any grappling going himself. He went 0-4 in his takedown attempts against Muslim Salikhov. Even in his win over undersized Luigi Vendramini, he had his back taken, which is even worse in retrospect.
Now dos Santos has to step in with a guy who is a very apt grappler in Benoit Saint-Denis. In addition, he has a lot of high-level experience coming from Brave CF, which includes a win over Luan Santiago and a slew of guys with more experience with him. I expect the judo background of Saint-Denis to keep him on the feet when he wants to and to initiate his own grappling when he needs to. That’ll be the path to victory for the Frenchman.
2021 Record: 11-21 (4 withdrawals)
Earnings (based on $100 bet/event): -($464)
Return on Investment: -9%
2018-20 Record: 45-72 (+1.1%)
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