This Saturday, the UFC returns to the Mile High City with a stacked UFC Denver fight card at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. The main event features a compelling women’s flyweight clash between former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas and the surging Tracy Cortez.
Namajunas, ranked 6th in the division, looks to build on her recent victory over Amanda Ribas as she continues her campaign at 125 pounds. Standing across from her is the 11th-ranked Cortez, who steps in as a late replacement for the injured Maycee Barber. With an impressive 5-0 UFC record, Cortez aims to upset the more experienced Namajunas.
The co-main event pits welterweight veterans Santiago Ponzinibbio and Muslim Salikhov against each other in what promises to be an explosive striking affair. Both fighters are eager to bounce back from recent losses and climb the rankings.
Further down the card, Brazilian prospect Gabriel Bonfim faces off against Ange Loosa in another welterweight bout, while featherweights Julian Erosa and Christian Rodriguez look to put on a show for the fans. The preliminary card features an intriguing middleweight matchup between Abdul Razak Alhassan and Cody Brundage, as well as a women’s flyweight bout between Luana Santos and Mariya Agapova.
With a mix of established veterans and rising stars, UFC Denver offers something for every fight fan. The event will be broadcast live on ESPN and ESPN+, with the preliminary card kicking off at 7 PM ET, followed by the main card.
With a great fight card comes money to be made, we take a look at the top betting underdogs for this weekend’s stacked UFC Denver fight night event.
Here are the UFC Odds, courtesy of BetOnline.
UFC Denver Top Betting Underdogs
Da’Mon Blackshear: +133
Cody Brundage: +144
Josh Fremd: -105
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Da’Mon Blackshear (+133) vs. Montel Jackson
Da’Mon Blackshear took a short-notice opportunity to get a chance to fight in the UFC when he fought Youssef Zalal to a majority draw. Since then, Blackshear has gone 2-2 with two finishes and becoming only the third person in UFC history to submit an opponent via twister. He most recently took a loss against Mario Bautista, a fight that many believed he won, and will now be looking to ensure he doesn’t leave the fight in the hands of the judges this time when he takes on Montel Jackson this weekend.
Blackshear is one of the biggest bantamweights in the division right up there with Montel Jackson even fighting as high as featherweight outside the UFC at times. His bread and butter is grappling which will be his biggest advantage in this fight as we’ve seen that Jackson’s biggest weakness is his grappling. Jackson has been taken down a whopping 19 times in 9 fights, while those numbers are a bit skewed with 15 of them coming against Simon and Johns, he has been taken down in 6 of his 9 fights inside the Octagon. As long as Blackshear isn’t making this fight a kickboxing match and he mixes things up he has the potential of getting a high-profile win this weekend.
Cody Brundage (+144) vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
Cody Brundage had a tough matchup in his last fight going against the UFC’s most prized possession Bo Nickal who choked him out midway through round 2 at UFC 300. Before that loss, Brundage won two in a row with one of those wins coming due to Jacob Malkoun being disqualified for shots to the back of the head. Now, he will be looking to get back on track when he takes on Abdul Razak Alhassan this weekend in Denver, Colorado.
Brundage has had an up-and-down start to his UFC career with just a 4-5 record but he’s shown some promise in his wins like his slam knockout of Zach Reese and his knockout of Tresean Gore. He’s going against a powerhouse like Alhassan who’s got that one-hitter-quitter but luckily for Brundage, he’s been durable for the most part in his MMA career. Also, Brundage living and training in Colorado gives him a leg up in the cardio as we’ve seen Alhassan’s cardio fade time and time again. It’ll be up to Brundage to make Alhassan work early in this fight and weather the storm to drag him into deep water for a potential late finish or nod on the judge’s scorecards.
Josh Fremd (-105) vs. Andre Petroski
Josh Fremd is now 2-3 in the biggest promotion and could potentially be fighting for his career when he steps inside the Octagon this weekend after losing in his last fight against Roman Kopylov back in September 2023. Before that fight, however, Fremd won back-to-back fights for the first time in his UFC career against Sedriques Dumas and Jamie Pickett. Fremd hopes he can rekindle those performances this weekend when he takes on Andre Petroski in Denver, Colorado.
Fremd is coming into this fight with a big size advantage against Petroski who despite having insane strength is quite small for the middleweight division. Fremd will be the one to dictate where the fight takes place on the feet with his 4″ height and 3″ reach advantages to keep Petroski at the end of his strikes. Meanwhile, Petroski who’s a very good grappler in his own right will be looking to navigate through those long limbs to take Fremd to the mat and get the submission. What’s also working in Fremd’s favor is that he lives and trains in Colorado which certainly gives him the cardio advantage the longer this fight goes especially knowing how Petroski’s biggest weakness is his gas tank.
It’s going to come down to whether or not Fremd can stuff the takedowns and make Petroski work early in this fight. If he can do that he’s got a good chance at landing a big shot to make three consecutive knockout defeats for Petroski.
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