Alex Volkanovski has made two key predictions for the UFC 296 card, and one of them is an underdog special.
UFC 296 will be taking place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 16. It is a stacked card featuring a welterweight title fight between champion Leon Edwards and Colby Covington. Also featured on the main card will be a flyweight championship scrap between titleholder Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval.
Another UFC 296 main card bout that fight fans are looking forward to is the welterweight clash between Shavkat Rakhmonov and Stephen Thompson. Rakhmonov is the favorite to emerge victorious at UFC 296, but Alex Volknaovski has other ideas.
Alex Volkanovski Picks Stephen Thompson To Defeat Shavkat Rakhmonov
During a video posted on his YouTube channel, Alex Volkanovski said that while Stephen Thompson has gotten older, he still believes he’s a difficult matchup for Shavkat Rakhmonov.
“I think Rakhmonov is undefeated, both great fighters, but stylistically I’m always gonna find, especially in situations like this against a young, hungry guy like Shavkat, he’s always gonna be a half-decent bet,” Volkanovski said. “Stephen Thompson, yeah he is a little bit older, but you’ve gotta remember that movement, you gotta remember that distance management, you gotta remember that defense that he has. He is pretty incredible there. We know Shavkat likes to walk forward, he likes to press forward, puts himself in danger.”
Volkanovski went on to reveal that he’s actually picking “Wonderboy” to halt the momentum of Rakhmonov, and he thinks the betting lines are too good to pass on.
“I’m leaning towards Stephen Thompson on this one, which people are gonna think I’m mad,” Volkanovski said. “I just think stylistically, this could be a very awkward matchup for Shavkat. And I wanna stand by that purely because of how much of an underdog he is. You can make big money on this purely because you don’t even have to bet on a finish or nothing.”
Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington Prediction
Volkanovski also threw in his pick for who he believes will win the UFC 296 main event title fight between welterweight champion Leon Edwards and Colby Covington.
“I think Colby Covington is a big threat,” Volkanovski admitted. “He’s gonna be a very hard fight, he’s gonna be there the whole fight, but I think Leon Edwards learned so much from these last fights with someone like Usman that he gets to carry that on into this fight, which is absolutely perfect for him to go out there and get the W.”
Here’s the full video of Alex Volkanovski’s UFC 296 picks breakdown:
