UFC 267 predictions — Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira: Fight card, odds, expert picks, prelims

Two title fights anchor UFC 267, which takes place Saturday night time in Abu Dhabi. The cardboard is the uncommon UFC “numbered occasion” that won’t happen on pay-per-view. As an alternative, the occasion will stream reside on ESPN+ within the afternoon stateside.

In the primary occasion, Jan Blachowicz will make his second protection of the UFC gentle heavyweight championship when he takes on Glover Teixeira, who enters on a five-fight successful streak. Blachowicz is coming off a formidable win over middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in March.

After dropping the bantamweight title by way of disqualification, Petr Yan was initially scheduled to rematch Aljamain Sterling for the championship within the co-main occasion. After lingering neck points pressured Sterling out of the bout, Cory Sandhagen stepped in. Sandhagen and Yan will now battle for the interim title at 135 kilos.

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With a lot taking place on Saturday night time, let’s take a more in-depth have a look at the total battle card with the most recent odds from Caesars Sportsbook earlier than we get to our employees predictions and picks for the PPV portion of the festivities.

UFC 267 battle card, odds

• Jan Blachowicz (c) -300 vs. Glover Teixeira +240, gentle heavyweight championship
• Petr Yan -220 vs. Cory Sandhagen +180, interim bantamweight championship
• Islam Makhachev -625 vs. Dan Hooker +450, light-weight
• Alexander Volkov -300 vs. Marcin Tybura +240, heavyweight
• Khamzat Chimaev -575 vs. Li Jingliang +425, welterweight
• Magomed Ankalaev -310 vs. Volkan Oezdemir +250, gentle heavyweight
• Amanda Ribas -160 vs. Virna Jandiroba +135, girls’s strawweight
• Zubaira Tukhugov -170 vs. Ricardo Ramos +145, featherweight
• Albert Duraev -360 vs. Roman Kopylov +280, middleweight
• Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos -230 vs. Benoit Saint-Denis +190, welterweight
• Shamil Gamzatov -125 vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk +105, gentle heavyweight
• Lerone Murphy -310 vs. Makwan Amirkhani +250, featherweight
• Andre Petroski -230 vs. Yaozong Hu +190, gentle heavyweight
• Tagir Ulanbekhov -370 vs. Allan Nascimento +290, flyweight

With such an enormous important occasion on faucet, the crew at CBS Sports activities went forward with predictions and picks for the primary card. Listed here are your choose makers: Brent Brookhouse (Fight sports activities author), Brian Campbell (Fight sports activities author, co-host of “Morning Kombat”), Matthew Coca (producer), Jack Crosby (editor), Michael Mormile (producer) and Brandon Sensible (senior editor).

UFC 267 picks, predictions

Campbell on why Blachowicz will win: The champion proved towards Israel Adesanya in his first title protection simply how excessive his battle IQ is by making the important thing changes to win an in depth resolution. Blachowicz might want to depend on those self same abilities towards an developed and environment friendly Teixeira in a battle that would play out like a chess match. Teixeira is highly effective on the toes and really able to controlling the motion on the bottom. But it surely’s the exercise stage of Blachowicz that should stay excessive as a way to be sure that he convinces the judges.  

Sensible on why Teixeira will win: Teixeira’s journey to this sudden second title shot is nothing in need of exceptional. Add in that the Brazilian has balanced out his recreation with a powerful boxing base to pair together with his legendary floor assault and it seems like an ideal recipe for an upset. This line feels very inflated off of Blachowicz’s win over Adesanya and whereas the Pol could have a putting benefit in energy, Teixeira simply must survive these flurries lengthy sufficient to take this battle the place he needs it. Search for this to show right into a dogfight late with it reaching the scorecards. 

Campbell on why Sandhagen will win: Though accidents have prevented each the present bantamweight champion (Aljamain Sterling) and the previous 135-pound king (TJ Dillashaw) from preventing for the total title at UFC 267, Yan-Sandhagen is likely to be one of the best matchup the division may produce. And together with his size and grappling abilities, Sandhagen may additionally be Yan’s most troublesome matchup on paper. Yan can actually smash, and it is laborious to discover a weak point in his well-rounded recreation. Fortunately for Sandhagen, most of what he does is unorthodox and laborious to organize for. Supplied he can combine up his putting patterns and do sufficient harm to maintain Yan trustworthy, the opening may simply be there for Sandhagen to pounce. 

Brookhouse on why Yan will win: Sandhagen is a talented fighter, however one with some apparent holes in his recreation. Sure, he is unorthodox and explosive, however he leaves defensive openings that open him as much as get tagged usually. Yan is the improper man to take 100 or extra strikes from (Sandhagen was hit by 110 important strikes from Dillashaw and 106 from John Lineker) and if Sandhagen finds himself mixing it up in extended exchanges, it may be a foul night time for him.

Campbell on why Makhachev will win: Hooker’s story of delaying his flight dwelling to start a protracted quarantine in New Zealand in favor of doubling down on his present momentum is an inspiring one. However Makhachev is likely to be every kind of improper for an influence transfer this massive. For as a lot as Hooker confirmed from a wrestling standpoint in his much-needed September win over Nasrat Haqparast, he’ll want rather more than that to have any of the identical success towards Makhachev. A childhood buddy of former light-weight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, Makhachev seems to be the products by way of appearing as a successor to his retired buddy from the standpoint of sustained dominance. Make no mistake, this can be a step-up battle for Makhachev but it surely’s one he can win by leaning into his strengths.

Who wins Blachowicz vs. Teixeira? And what different picks do it is advisable to see for a parlay with a payout of higher than 9-1? Visit SportsLine now to get detailed top picks on UFC 267, all from the insider who’s up almost $9,200 on MMA picks prior to now yr, and discover out.