March 2023 has proven to be a ridiculously jam-packed month for the UFC. UFC 286 will be the second PPV numbered event of the month, following the historic UFC 285, where Jon Jones made his heavyweight debut and became world champion.
One fight to look at this weekend will be Joanne Wood and Luana Carolina going at it to start the night off on the preliminary card. Read further for a complete betting analysis, preview, and the official Wood vs. Carolina prediction before you bet on the UFC this weekend.
Wood vs. Carolina Odds
Wood vs. Carolina Information
UFC 286: Joanne Wood vs Luana Carolina
Location: The O2 Arena, London, England.
Date and Time: March 18, 2023. 5 PM ET.
How to Watch: ESPN+ | https://livestreamsports.co/
Last Fight Record
Wood is looking to get out of her recent 3-fight skid. She suffered a first-round submission loss to current champion Alexa Grasso in her last appearance.
Carolina is looking to return to the same arena as her last bout and make up for the devastating third-round KO loss to Molly McCann almost a year ago this weekend.
Wood vs. Carolina Betting Analysis
Joanne Wood
Wood is back in the area of the world where she is originally from, in the UK. This kind of hometown energy will be huge for her as she is about to make the walk to arguably a “make or break” situation fight. She has lost three in a row, and even though she is a UFC great and veteran of the company, she might be losing her job with a loss Saturday night.
The Scottish martial artist fights with a very high-volume striking attack, averaging a whopping 6.76 significant strikes landed per minute in the UFC. To go along with her power (5 KOs), she also has averaged around 1.5 takedowns per 15 minutes in the octagon.
Luana Carolina
After being on the wrong side of a potential KO of the year, Carolina has nowhere to go but up. She is a tough Brazilian fighter that has long limbs and gives flyweights a tough time with her length and technical striking, as well as being dangerous off her back.
Carolina will lack power and speed to Wood, but her length and ability in Jiu-Jitsu scrambles will allow her to be very competitive against her much older opponent. The key stat for her this weekend is the 82% takedown defense she carries into this fight. If she’s able to stuff takedowns and keep Wood in her guard if the fight goes to the ground, she will have a lot of success.
Updates
No injuries were reported to the London Athletic Commission.
Wood vs. Carolina Betting Preview
According to UFC odds, Joanne Wood is the betting favorite, with the moneyline at -190. This is a fight where Wood is going to be the much more skilled and experienced fighter; potentially, a little gift or opportunity from the UFC to get her back into her winning form.
There aren’t any good prop bets available early on in fight week, but keep a lookout for any of the props being released at major sportsbooks. Even if you aren’t confident in our Wood vs Carolina betting prediction, there will always be prop bets to make plays on.
If Wood is able to show up for this fight, she takes advantage in just about every category of the fight. Carolina is a BJJ practitioner at heart, so she has the advantage of throwing up submissions and being dangerous off her back, something that Wood needs to be very careful of.
Carolina is the kind of fighter where I can see her being dominated for 13 minutes of a fight and then being able to lock in a triangle or an armbar in the final minutes to steal a win. Wood needs to be very disciplined and fight smart for all 15 minutes of this fight.
Wood vs. Carolina Betting Prediction
After breaking down the film, analytics, and betting lines, the official Wood vs Carolina prediction is for Joanne Wood to get her hand raised in The O2 Arena on Saturday night.
Don’t expect there to be a finish, so if an under-prop bet or a Wood method of victory prop betting line appears this week, take a look at the odds and get the best value possible. But to be honest, the moneyline is just fine at -190 for Wood.
-190 is still a solid value and can increase a parlay’s value a ton if you add it to your weekend slate. Even though UFC predictions are difficult to make, you can always research and seek help like this article to make the best picks possible for any UFC event.
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