This Saturday the UFC make their first trip to Baku and put on a historic event at the Baku Crystal Hall. I’ve even included a picture of the arena for this one, as at night it is quite simply the most beautiful arena I have seen. The card will be headlined by Khalil Rountree taking on Jamahal Hill in the middleweight division!

Anyhow, more importantly let’s get into what I am betting on this card. I am going to share a couple of my own bets, and I’ve decided to lay down a few parlays for a change for you this week! Plus we have a bet from our leader David Van Auken. Which isn’t just his best bet for this week. In his own words it’s his “LOCK OF THE YEAR”! Strap yourselves in and let’s get this baby laid down!

THE KO PARLAY +1650

Let’s hope that unlike the Atlanta card, we get a stack of finishes on this card. Because it will line my pockets, and it will send all of us fans home happy. The first leg of this parlay is the Welsh Gangster Oban Elliot to win by KO. His opponent Ko only has 2 losses on his 11-2 record. But both of these have been by KO. Maybe that’s why he has the name “KO” lol. Next up we are taking Curtis Blaydes to win by KO against debutant Rizvan Kuniev. Blaydes is a mainstay of the heavyweight division, and is a ridiculously tough out for anyone not named Tom Aspinall. So it’s a tough ask for the debutant, no matter how good the Russian is. Just cos he’s from Dagestan doesn’t mean he can keep up with Curtis Blaydes. Let the ground and pound rain down! BOOM! Then last but not least, for our final leg we roll with one half of the main event in Khalil Rountree Jr to flatten Jamahal Hill. It’s not that Hill can’t win this fight, I just don’t think he can stop Rountree Jr. Khalil showed how good his chin is last time out as he went 4 rounds with Alex Pereira. Hill has lost his last 2, and both times he was knocked out. 3rd time will be a charm. Trust me. Lock it in.

Next up I’ve got a cheeky double for you. It’s all about the finishes still. We just move over to the submission wins for this card.

SUBMISSION DOUBLE +2050

I absolutely love this play, and couldn’t quite believe the odds when I put it together. 10$ on this will return 205$. Not to shabby a return. First off we have Junyong Park by submission. Out of his 11 wins by finish, 6 of them have come by submission. Couple that with Naurdiev having a couple of sub losses on his record, an arm bar as recent as 2022, I think this is a great leg to start off the double. We pair that with Kyrgyzstan monster Orolbai to get the submission win over Musayev. Who has 3 of his 5 losses coming by way of submission. Rounded out a solid double that certainly has a great shot at hitting! Of course at the odds it isn’t one to get the house on. But it’s certainly worth 10$ of anybody’s money! Get on board.

Last but not least we have our lock of the year from the boss man David Van Auken!

Rafael Fiziev to win +110

I can see why Dave has picked this one out. It’s a great price on a guy who not long since was on an absolute tear in the UFC. Yes he’s on a 3 fight skid. But this is a step down in competition. Bahomondes is good. I just aren’t sure he’s quite as good as the hype suggests. He isn’t facing a washed Jalen Turner this time. Fiziev will bring a relentless pressure, heavy hands, and a never say die attitude. At the price I’m prepared to lump on this myself for sure! It’s sink or swim time for Bahomondes, and personally I think the young prospect still needs arm bands in the shallow end. We find out Saturday.

Enjoy the violence folks.

Phil – @PhilOnelife on X.