UFC 287 predictions: Who's picking Israel Adesanya to get title back from Alex Pereira?
| Pereira
vs. Adesanya |
Burns
vs. Masvidal |
Font
vs. Yanez |
Holland
vs. Ponzinibbio |
Rodriguez
vs. Rosas |
|
| George Garcia
@MMAjunkieGeorge 44-25 |
Adesanya |
Masvidal |
Yanez |
Holland |
Rosas |
| Simon Samano
@SJSamano 42-27 |
Pereira |
Burns |
Yanez |
Holland |
Rosas |
| Matthew Wells
@MrMWells 40-29 |
Adesanya |
Burns |
Yanez |
Holland |
Rosas |
| Brian Garcia
@thegoze 39-30 2017 Champion |
Adesanya |
Masvidal |
Yanez |
Holland |
Rosas |
| Mike Bohn
@MikeBohn 38-31 2014 Champion |
Adesanya |
Burns |
Yanez |
Holland |
Rosas |
| Danny Segura
@dannyseguratv 36-33 |
Adesanya |
Burns |
Font |
Ponzinibbio |
Rosas |
The UFC is back in Miami for the first time in a long time, and a middleweight title rematch tops the card.
UFC 287 takes place Saturday at Kaseya Center in Miami. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)
In the main event, middleweight champion Alex Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) puts his title on the line for the first time against former champ Israel Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC), whom he beat to win the belt this past November. Pereira also holds two kickboxing wins over Adesanya.
Despite that, Pereira is the underdog at the betting window with Adesanya around a -150 favorite. The vast majority of our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers are picking Adesanaya to get the belt back at a rate of 9-2.
In the co-feature, Gilbert Burns (21-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) takes on Jorge Masvidal (35-16 MMA, 12-9 UFC) at welterweight. Both fighters hope a win will make them a candidate to leapfrog Colby Covington as the next challenger for champ Leon Edwards. Burns is the biggest favorite on entire card, by far, at 5-1. Only two of our pickers have Masvidal in an upset.
Also on the main card, Adrian Yanez (16-3 MMA, 5-0 UFC) is a near 2-1 favorite against Rob Font (19-6 MMA, 9-5 UFC) at bantamweight, and he’s a near unanimous pick from our staff members at 10-1.
Kevin Holland (23-9 MMA, 10-6 UFC) meets Santiago Ponzinibbio (29-6 MMA, 11-5 UFC) in a potential middleweight slugfest. Holland is around a -250 betting favorite, and he has a big 8-3 picks lead.
And to open the main card, Christian Rodriguez (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) takes on Raul Rosas Jr. (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at a 137-pound catchweight (Rodriguez missed the bantamweight limit on the scale). Rosas is more than a 2-1 favorite, and he’s the lone unanimous pick on the main card.
In the MMA Junkie consensus picks, Pereira (61 percent), Burns (80 percent), Yanez (67 percent), Holland (70 percent) and Rosas (84 percent) are the choices.
Check out all the picks above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 287.