The most overlooked matchup on weekend’s UFC fight schedule might be this middleweight battle between Edmen Shahbazyan and AJ Dobson. Shahbazyan is looking to work his way back into the top of the division after losing his hype years ago and Dobson has a chance to work his way up the ladder with a big win on the scores and odds.
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- Pick: Shahbazyan to win by TKO/KO at +175.
Read more for the official Shahbazyan vs Dobson prediction before placing any UFC bets on this weekend’s card.
Edmen Shahbazyan vs. AJ Dobson Information
Edmen Shahbazyan vs AJ Dobson
Location of the game: UFC APEX, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Date and Time: March 23, 2024. 10 PM ET main card start
How to Watch: ESPN+
Last Fight Record
Shahbazyan is looking to bounce back from a heartbreaking TKO loss to Anthony Hernandez last May.
Dobson is coming off a unanimous decision win over Tafon Nchukwi last August.
Edmen Shahbazyan vs AJ Dobson Betting Analysis
Edmen Shahbazyan
Shahbazyan is an American mixed martial artist with an MMA record of 12-4, including 10 wins by TKO/KO and 1 submission. He’s a black belt in Shotokan Karate and has been training with high-level athletes since he was a teen–being one of Ronda Rousey’s main training partners during her UFC reign. In the UFC, he has collected one Performance of the Night bonus.
Shahbazyan is a 26-year-old orthodox striker with a height of 6’2” and a reach of 75”. In the octagon, he averages 3.46 significant strikes landed per minute and absorbs 4.13 per minute. He also gets 2.17 takedowns per 15 minutes and holds a modest 63% takedown defense up to this point.
AJ Dobson
Dobson is an American mixed martial artist from Brooklyn with a professional MMA record of 7-2, including 3 TKO/KO wins and 2 submissions at the age of 32. He has a fun style of fighting for the fans to enjoy–collecting 5 first-round finishes and three of them within a minute. He has been a professional since 2016 and even collected an amateur win over UFC veteran John Gunther.
Dobson is listed as a 6’1” freestyle fighter with a 76” reach fighting out of the orthodox stance. So far in his UFC career, Dobson averages 4.38 significant strikes landed and 5.25 absorbed per minute. He adds 1.82 takedowns per 15 minutes and has a 64% takedown defense.
Updates
UFC or ESPN does not have any injury reports.
Edmen Shahbazyan vs AJ Dobson Betting Preview
The Shahbazyan vs Dobson prediction is a difficult one to make because they are both so dangerous. We need to look closer at how their styles will clash and how the betting lines look going into the weekend–those will determine how we want to win money.
Starting with the available UFC odds for this one, Shahbazyan is going into Saturday night on the UFC schedule as a -205 betting favorite over the +175 Dobson. The favorite finish way for this fight is to end inside the distance with -165 odds. The u2.5 round total is currently at -135 to hit.
When you bet on upcoming UFC fights, you need to understand how styles make fights and how each style could clash differently with the other. In this fight’s case, it seems like it will be an awesome kickboxing fight.
Shahbazyan is very talented. It feels like his career fell off, but he’s only 26 years old and still learning. He is a dynamic athlete who has been learning all the martial arts since he was a young teen. Yes, he had tons of hype a couple of years ago, but that doesn’t matter as he’s still getting better after losses.
Dobson is a big, strong dude with some above-average power in his hands and has gotten better with kicks. He is also a very physical wrestler who likes to mix level changes into his game plan to control opponents on the ground.
Edmen Shahbazyan vs AJ Dobson Betting Prediction
After closely comparing these two athletes and their styles, the only Shahbazyan vs Dobson prediction that makes sense is that Shahbazyan gets his hand raised on Saturday night.
Shahbazyan is going to be too fast for Dobson. He has a speed advantage and that plays a massive factor, especially when Dobson is going to be chasing a takedown and running into something fast and sharp from the 26-year-old.
- Pick: Shahbazyan to win by TKO/KO at +175.
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