Contender Series Week 6: Aaron Tau vs. Elijah Smith continues with a fight between Yura Naito and Ateba Gautier in the middleweight division. Naito is an undefeated prospect who has won all six of his fights coming into his shot on the Contender Series meanwhile, Gautier has won four straight fights as he looks to play spoiler on this week’s episode. With that said, check out our UFC odds series for our Naito-Gautier prediction and pick.
Yura Naito (6-0) has been running through the competition on the regional scene winning all six of his professional bouts with 5 of them by finish. He is coming off a brutal knockout victory over Ali Qaradaghy at Pancrase 345 in his last fight. Naito will be looking to remain unbeaten and secure his UFC contract when he takes on Cameroon’s Ateba Gautier.
Ateba Gautier (5-1) has rattled off four straight victories coming into his first appearance on the Contender Series. Since losing his first professional fight back in July 2022, he has since gotta four first-round knockouts en route to this opportunity. Gautier will be looking to make history and become only the third fighter from Cameroon to be signed by the UFC when he takes on Japan’s Yura Naito this Tuesday night.
Here are the Contender Series UFC Odds, courtesy of DraftKings.
UFC Contender Series Odds: Yura Naito-Ateba Gautier Odds
Yura Naito: -140
Ateba Gautier: +110
*Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why Yura Naito Will Win
Yura Naito comes into his shot on the Contender Series as an undefeated prospect winning all six of his professional bouts with five of them coming by finish. His finishes are split between 3 KO/TKO and 2 submissions. Naito has fought for Pancrasse for his whole pro career which Japan’s top regional MMA organization. Naito will be looking to remain unbeaten when he steps inside the Octagon on this week’s episode of the Contender Series.
Naito is a well-rounded prospect with the power to end Ateva Gautier on the feet and grapple to get the finish on the mat. While he certainly has the striking to stand in there and go toe-to-toe with Gautier, it would be wise if he were to use his grappling to wear on him eventually getting the finish from top control. As long as Naito can avoid the power that will be thrown his way from Gautier and then level change to take this fight to the mat he can use his heavy ground and pound and sneaky submission game to get the finish and secure his UFC contract.
Why Ateba Gautier Will Win
Ateba Gutier is a middleweight prospect from Cameroon where the likes of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is from. However, he doesn’t train in Cameroon, he trains at Manchester Top Team where a plethora of high-level talent train out of. The prospect from Cameroon will be looking to extend his winning streak to five in a row when he takes on Yura Naito on Tuesday night.
Gautier is a specimen for 185 lbs standing in at 6’3 with an 81″ reach which gives him a big size advantage in this fight. While Gautier isn’t the most technical fighter, he makes up for it with his insane power which has resulted in four straight first-round knockouts. He is going to need to be the aggressor and put Naito on his backfoot right away, from there he should be able to utilize his long limbs to land his bombs when he has Naito corraled against the cage. As long as Gautier can defend the takedowns and make sure that this fight doesn’t hit the mat, it will take just one big shot in 15 minutes to get the knockout securing his UFC contract.
Final Yura Naito-Ateba Gautier Prediction & Pick
This is a fantastic matchup for Week 6 between these two middleweight prospects. Both Naito and Gautier are finishers which we can expect a barnburner that will not see the scorecards in this fight. Gautier’s knockout power and Naito’s well-rounded skillset makes for a very intriguing matchup in this one.
Ultimately, Gautier is going to be a scary opposition for Naito early in this fight but as the fight progresses that power will start to fade once Naito starts wear on Gautier with his grappling and his movement on the feet and as the fight gets into the latter portion of this fight that is where Naito will take over eventually getting the finish on the mat and securing his spot on the UFC’s middleweight roster.
Final Yura Naito-Ateba Gautier Prediction & Pick: Yura Naito (-140)
Follow Us
Subscribe
