Sydney, Australia, is the location of this weekend’s event on the UFC schedule. UFC 293 is set to take place and has a bunch of very interesting matchups throughout the card. Let’s take a closer look at a light heavyweight bout on the main card between Tyson Pedro and Anton Turkalj.
Read more for the complete betting analysis and Pedro vs Turkalj prediction ahead of making your picks on this weekend’s betting slate.
Tyson Pedro vs. Anton Turkalj Information
Tyson Pedro vs Anton Turkalj
Location: Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Date & Time: September 09, 2023. 10 PM ET
How to Watch: ESPN+
Tyson Pedro vs. Anton Turkalj Last Fight Record
Pedro is looking to bounce back from dropping a unanimous decision to Modestas Bukauskas in February at UFC 284.
Turkalj is coming off a tough unanimous decision loss to Vitor Petrino in March.
Tyson Pedro vs. Anton Turkalj Betting Analysis
Tyson Pedro
Pedro is an Australian mixed martial artist with a professional MMA record of 9-4 with four TKO/KOs and five submissions at the age of 31. He trains out of the great City Kickboxing gym in New Zealand with some of the best fighters in the world, including the headliner of this card Israel Adesanya.
Pedro has had a long UFC career, even though he missed three years due to a reconstruction surgery on his knee and the pandemic. He measures 6’3” and has a 79” reach. So far in his UFC career, Pedro averages 2.96 significant strikes landed per minute, and 2.49 of those strikes absorbed.
Anton Turkalj
Turkalj is a Swedish mixed martial artist with a professional record of 8-2 with five KO/TKOs and two submissions under his belt at only the age of 27. His first two losses have been his last two appearances in the UFC, meaning this upcoming bout is massive for his career–sometimes, the situation in an athlete’s career makes a big difference when making UFC picks.
“The Pleasure Man” brings a lot of confidence and an interesting personality to the UFC if he starts to put out winning performances. Turkalj is a big dude, measuring in at 6’4” with a 78” reach.
An interesting statistic in his 3-fight UFC career is that he’s averaging 6.97 takedowns per 15 minutes because he scored 11 of them in his DWCS bout.
Updates
No injuries have been reported to the UFC.
Tyson Pedro vs. Anton Turkalj Betting Preview
This is an interesting matchup between a battle-tested veteran of the sport with a great team against a very talented young fighter who has the potential to be a very good fighter in the UFC. The Pedro vs Turkalj prediction can’t be made until we look at the available betting lines for this bout.
According to UFC odds, Turkalj is coming in as the slight betting favorite with odds of -115 to Pedro’s -105. This will most likely close at EVEN odds, and that is the correct way of setting up this bout in the books. The under 2.5 round total is favored at -220, which means the oddsmakers believe someone is going to finish the fight early.
Stylistically, this fight is an example of awesome matchmaking by the UFC to boost the product of a card that many fans might think is lacking big names in the sport. Pedro is going to have an advantage with the event being on home soil and having all that support. He also has shared the cage with the likes of Shogun Rua and Ovince St. Preux.
Turkalj is an interesting character in this matchup because he usually has a slight edge over opponents due to his confidence and self-belief, but after losing two fights in a row, his mentality might be slightly different heading into this one.
Tyson Pedro vs. Anton Turkalj Betting Prediction
After breaking down this light heavyweight matchup in every way possible, there is a clear pick for the official Pedro vs Turkalj prediction.
We are going with Pedro to get his hand raised in front of his hometown crowd and get his career back on the right path. He has too good of a team around him and will be prepared for the young Turkalj, who has plenty of holes in his game to exploit.
The odds will be around even all week, so you can get Pedro’s moneyline with great odds, and you don’t need to overthink and bet on any method of victory. This might be a close decision win, or it’s very possible Pedro catches him early and submits him.
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