Can Imavov match Strickland’s pace?

June M. Williams

Zane Simon & Connor Ruebusch are back to break down this week’s UFC event in Las Vegas, NV. With picks and odds for every fight on the card. From Sean Strickland vs. Nassourdine Imavov in the main event down to Priscila Cachoeira vs. Sijara Eubanks in the opening prelim.

I’m not necessarily sure that the main event of UFC Vegas 67 got better with Sean Strickland’s late entry into the headlining bout against Nassourdine Imavov, but it certainly creates more questions about just what kind of fight fans are going to see. With the fight up at 205, will Strickland be fit for 5 rounds? Will Imavov be helped by not having to cut? Can Strickland still make this a pace fight? The rest of the card is fine, if not terribly notable—although Raoni Barcelos vs. Umar Nurmagomedov should be a thriller.

For fans interested in diving deeper into the event, check out the Prelims Vivi below.

June M. Williams

Your official & honorary hosts of the Vivi Shows

The MMA Vivisection is brought to you by ‘The Fine Art of Violence’, a collection of art and essays recapping the year in MMA by Chris Rini, featuring the most talented artists and writers in Mixed Martial Arts. The book is available in both hard copy and digital formats at chrisrini.com.

Here’s a look at the UFC Vegas 67 fight card as it stood at the time of recording:

ESPN+ MAIN CARD | 7pm & 4pm ET/PT
Sean Strickland vs. Nassourdine Imavov – Picks, Both: Strickland
Dan Ige vs. Damon Jackson – Picks, Both: Ige
Punahele Soriano vs. Roman Kopylov – Picks, Both: Soriano
Ketlen Vieira vs. Raquel Pennington – Picks, Zane: Vieira, Connor: Pennington
Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Raoni Barcelos – Picks, Zane: Nurmagomedov, Connor: Barcelos

ESPN+ PRELIMS | 4pm & 1pm ET/PT
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Claudio Ribeiro – Picks, Both: Alhassan
Mateusz Rębecki vs. Nick Fiore – Picks, Both: Rebecki
Javid Basharat vs. Mateus Mendonça – Picks, Both: Basharat
Allan Nascimento vs. Carlos Hernandez – Picks, Both: Nascimento
Daniel Argueta vs. Nick Aguirre – Picks, Both: Argueta
Jimmy Flick vs. Charles Johnson – Picks, Both: Johnson
Priscila Cachoeira vs. Sijara Eubanks – Picks, Both: Eubanks

• Timestamps and YouTube videos will be delayed this week. Watch this post for updates throughout the afternoon.

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For every MMA event on your calendar, be sure to check in over at DRAFTKINGS SPORTSBOOK for all of your up-to-date odds, stats and betting whims.

For those of you following the picks made on the show, we started tracking them with the July 13th, 2020 Vivisection shows for UFC Fight Island 1: ‘Kattar vs. Ige’. So far, here are the overall standings:

• For our last event, UFC Vegas 66 ‘Cannonier vs. Strickland’: Zane picked 8/13 for 62% and Connor picked 7/13 for 54%. (The Marquez vs Winn bout they picked for was cancelled when Winn withdrew.)
• Overall stats from UFC Fight Island 1 in July, 2020, through UFC Vegas 66 in Dec, 2022: Zane went 800/1242 for 64% and Connor went 754/1242 for 61%
• 2022: Zane went 330/505 for 65% and Connor went 312/505 for 62%
• 2021: Zane went 305/493 for 65% and Connor went 285/493 for 59%
• July-Dec 2020: Zane went 164/244 for 67% and Connor went 157/244 for 64%
  Reference: Vivi Picks Stats_1.11.23.pdf

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