This week’s MMA schedule kicks off tonight with Dana White’s Contender Series taking place in the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. An interesting matchup on tonight’s card will be this featherweight bout between Steven Nguyen and AJ Cunningham.
Read more about both of these prospects and get the betting analysis, along with the official Nguyen vs Cunningham prediction, ahead of making your picks tonight.
Steven Nguyen vs. AJ Cunningham Information
Steven Nguyen vs AJ Cunningham
Location of the fight: UFC APEX, Las Vegas, NV.
Date and Time: Tuesday, September 12. 8:00 PM ET
How to Watch: ESPN+
Last Fight Record
Nguyen is making his first appearance since his 2021 win over Theo Rlayang in the Contender Series; this will be his third DWCS fight.
Cunningham is coming off an impressive rear-naked choke win in the second round over Jason Mullen at Fury FC 79 in May.
Steven Nguyen vs. AJ Cunningham Betting Analysis
Steven Nguyen
Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American fighter with a professional MMA record of 8-1 with six finishes (three TKO and three SUB) under his belt at the age of 30. He has been a martial artist since the age of five and is currently a full-time fighter. Which is an advantage over most prospects at this level.
“The Ninja” is a pretty big featherweight at 5’11” and a 73″ reach. In his first two fights of DWCS, he has been against two super-talented fighters. He averages 7.36 significant strikes landed and 7.47 significant strikes absorbed per minute in the APEX octagon, fighting out of a slick switch stance.
AJ Cunningham
Cunningham is a newly-turned 29-year-old MMA fighter with a professional record of 10-2 with seven finishes (three TKO/KO and four SUB) in his young MMA career. He is coming off an awesome finish in May and riding that momentum into his opportunity at a UFC contract.
Even though this isn’t analytics, something to take note of is his life history. Cunningham has been through hell in his life since being a small child to an abusive father. His story will be featured on UFC.com and for sure will be highlighted on tonight’s broadcast. He is one of the toughest dudes to ever step foot in that APEX cage.
Updates
No injuries have been reported to the UFC.
Steven Nguyen vs. AJ Cunningham Betting Preview
After breaking down the betting analysis of this featherweight bout, it’s time to look at the available betting lines to make a correct Nguyen vs Cunningham prediction.
According to MMA odds, Nguyen is coming in as the second-biggest betting favorite on tonight’s card at -300 over the +250 Cunningham. These moneylines are tough to break down because you kind of have to trust the oddsmakers. Due to the fact they are the only ones who know what’s going on when two regional fighters meet.
From watching tape on both of these guys, the odds are pretty surprising. Nguyen is tough to analyze because he hasn’t fought in two years, and the skills of Cunningham are impressive.
Cunningham can fight out of both stances and has some slick techniques he throws from both sides. The biggest weapon he has is his heart and his toughness. It’s hard to imagine him being beaten tonight with this massive opportunity on the line.
Steven Nguyen vs. AJ Cunningham Betting Prediction
Making MMA picks on DWCS fights is even tougher to do than regular UFC cards because we don’t know much about any of these prospects who are coming in from a regional career. It’s a lot of trusting in oddsmakers and watching low-quality footage on YouTube.
- The official Nguyen vs Cunningham prediction is that Cunningham will get an upset victory.
His heart and toughness will be a lot for someone like Nguyen to get through. Especially coming off of such a long layoff.
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