Contender Series Week 1: Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Wes Schultz continues with the featured fight in the middleweight division between Mansur Abdul-Malik and Wes Schultz. Abdul-Malik comes into this fight with an undefeated record winning all five of his professional bouts with all five wins coming in the first round meanwhile, Schultz has won each of his last three fights with all three wins coming inside the distance in the first round. With that said, check out our UFC odds series for our Abdul-Malik-Schultz prediction and pick.
Mansur Abdul-Malik (5-0) has been wrecking the competition on the regional scene dismantling all five of his opponents in just less than five minutes. In his most recent victory was a brutal ground-and-pound knockout that sent Allan St-Gelais to the shadow realm. Abdul-Malik will look to continue his torrid streak alive and secure his UFC contract when he takes on Wes Schultz on Tuesday night.
Wes Schultz (6-1) comes into this shot on the Contender Series unbeaten in his last three fights with all three wins coming by first-round finish. Schultz’s lone blemish on his record is a unanimous decision defeat to fellow Contender Series alumni Dylan Budka. He will look to continue his finishing ways when he takes on Mansur Abdul-Malik in this week’s featured bout on the Contender Series.
Here are the Contender Series UFC Odds, courtesy of DraftKings.
UFC Contender Series Odds: Mansur Abdul-Malik-Wes Schultz Odds
Mansur Abdul-Malik: -345
Wes Schultz: +275
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Why Mansur Abdul-Malik Will Win
Mansur Abdul-Malik is an undefeated 5-0 prospect who has finished all five of his opponents in the first round. He is most recently coming off a vicious ground-and-pound victory in his last fight against Allan St-Gelais which just lasted 1:40. Abdul-Malik hopes he can keep his undefeated record intact when he takes on Wes Schultz this Tuesday night to secure a UFC contract.
Abdul-Malik is a powerful striker who is always looking to come forward and throw caution to the wind to land devastating shots. He is certainly going to have the power and speed advantages in this matchup and he will need to utilize that to keep this fight standing. His opponent Schultz is a wrestler and grappler and will be looking to take this fight to the mat as early as possible but luckily for Abdul-Malik he has wrestled his whole life and should have the defensive wrestling to keep this fight in his wheelhouse. As long as he can avoid letting this fight hit the canvas he should rack up yet another highlight reel finish on his resume.
Why Wes Schultz Will Win
Wes Schultz was a standout wrestler in high school where he ended his senior year 47-0 before becoming a D-III All-American wrestler before he transferred to Wyoming. He has seemingly made the transition to MMA where he has compiled a 6-1 record with five of those wins coming inside the distance with his lone loss coming against Contender Series alumni and now UFC middleweight Dylan Budka. He comes into this fight riding a three-fight finish streak where he has finished each of his three opponents in the first round. He will be looking to continue his winning ways and secure a UFC contract when he takes on Mansur Abdul-Malik.
On the feet, Schultz mixes his attacks up well with his boxing and leg kicks but his intent is to utilize his grappling and that will be the game plan in this matchup as well. While Abdul-Malik has wrestled his whole life, wrestling in MMA is a lot different and he has yet to face anyone with the accolades that Schultz has. However, Abdul-Malik is exceptionally dangerous on the feet and Schultz will need to do a good job at using his feints to draw out attacks from Abdul-Malik so that he can time his entries and take the fight to the mat. Once the fight hits the canvas the fight is in his world and from there Schultz can go to work and potentially get him out of there and secure his UFC contract.
Final Mansur Abdul-Malik-Wes Schultz Prediction & Pick
This is the right fight to pick as the featured bout for Week 1 of the Contender Series as these two middleweights go to battle. Both Abdul-Malik and Schultz are finishers so don’t expect this fight to make it to the judge’s scorecards. Ultimately, we can expect Schultz to land some early takedowns but that’s going to take a toll on him the longer the fight goes which is where Abdul-Malik will be the fresher fighter as he starts to land some heavy shots putting Schultz away midway through the fight to secure a contract with the UFC.
Final Mansur Abdul-Malik-Wes Schultz Prediction & Pick: Mansur Abdul-Malik (-345)
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