After a weekend without an event, the UFC will return to the Apex in Las Vegas for UFC Vegas 80 on Saturday. The event currently has 11 fights scheduled and will be headlined by a lightweight matchup between Grant Dawson and Bobby Green. Let’s take a closer look at how this fight could play out and some potential prop bets to consider:
Grant Dawson enters this fight with a 20-1-1 record with 17 wins via stoppage and he will be competing in his first UFC main event. Dawson is currently ranked 10th in the lightweight division standings and he has put together an impressive 8-0-1 run in the promotion thus far. He’s an excellent grappler who will consistently work for takedowns and chase submissions. While his striking skills don’t quite match his grappling capabilities, he has been steadily improving that aspect of his game as well since he started training at American Top Team.
Bobby Green is 30-14-1 with 19 wins coming via stoppage and he will be trying to pick up his second straight win this weekend after beating Tony Ferguson at UFC 291. Green is a long-time veteran in the UFC lightweight division and he has shared the octagon with an incredible list of talented opposition. He has excellent high-volume striking and can also be dangerous on the ground as well. This will be his second UFC main event after previously losing to current division champ Islam Makhachev via stoppage on short notice early last year.
While this should be a pretty fun fight, the two fighters involved are headed in opposite directions in their careers. Although Green is still performing at a pretty high level, he is 37 years old now in one of the toughest divisions in the promotion and he has gone 3-4 with a No Contest in his last eight trips to the octagon. Meanwhile, Dawson will be 7.5 years younger in this matchup and is still improving with each fight after switching gyms and moving to ATT for his training following his draw against Ricky Glenn.
Dawson should be able to weather the early striking threat from Green and get this one down to the mat relatively early, where he will look to tire out Green and chase a finish. While Dawson has 17 stoppages on his resume, it’s interesting to note that he doesn’t have any in the first round during his run with the UFC. I think Dawson will be patient early in this one before picking up the pace and putting Green away during the middle rounds. Dawson has picked up 13 of his 20 wins via submission, and I could see him getting another here.
As you might expect, Dawson is a sizable betting favorite in this matchup with his best available money line currently sitting at -410 on DraftKings Sportsbook. My favorite prop bet for this fight is for Dawson to win inside the distance, which is currently sitting at -135 on both DraftKings and FanDuel. If you’re wanting to get a plus money play for Dawson, I would recommend looking at his submission prop, which is currently listed at +140 on FanDuel.