UFC 329 Thoughts and Recap

King Green vs. Terrance McKinney

We went 3-2 on our UFC 329 picks. The night started with King Green weathering an early storm before knocking out Terrance McKinney late in the first round.

This fight was never going the distance with these two. McKinney always comes out at an incredible pace, and for the first four and a half minutes, it looked like he was going to get another quick finish. Our biggest concern heading into the fight was that if McKinney couldn't finish early, he'd eventually gas out and get caught. That's exactly what happened. Green survived the early storm and countered late which was enough for the referee to stop the fight.

Brandon Royval vs. Lone'er Kavanagh

The second fight of the main card showcased Brandon Royval at his best. He fought behind his jab, managed the distance, and that’s what we haven’t seen from him in past fights.

In the second round, we saw exactly why we picked Lone'er Kavanagh. He came out aggressively and rocked Royval early, but Royval refused to go down. He recovered quickly enough to avoid being finished and kept himself in the fight, getting to the third round.

The third round belonged to Royval. He took Kavanagh down, controlled him on the mat, and eventually secured a rear-naked choke for the submission victory.

Although Kavanagh didn't get the win, this was a valuable learning experience against one of the division's elites. He's still a young fighter with plenty of fights in his future, and even Royval said in his post-fight interview that Kavanagh has championship potential. Royval was begging for Fight of the Night, and he ended up earning the bonus.

Not the start we were hoping for, falling to 0-2 on our picks.

Cory Sandhagen vs. Mario Bautista

The first two rounds were incredibly competitive before Mario Bautista took over in the third.

Heading into the fight, there were plenty of people saying Sandhagen's takedown defense would neutralize Bautista's grappling, and early on I started to believe it. Cory was able to keep the fight standing, where he showcased his excellent striking.

Late in the first round, it appeared Bautista damaged Sandhagen's knee, and from that point on he made attacking the leg a major focus. The second round was just as close as the first, making it difficult to know who was ahead on the scorecards.

Everything changed in the final round. Bautista finally secured the takedown and controlled Sandhagen on the ground for the majority of the round. By finishing on top, it was clear he had done enough to earn the unanimous decision. Bautista’s level changes were what allowed him to take down Cory.

We believed Bautista's grappling would be the difference going into this matchup, and that's exactly how it played out. A great fight and our first winning pick of the night.

Benoit Saint Denis vs. Paddy Pimblet

Let's go! Paddy gets it done early.

We mentioned in our predictions that Benoit Saint Denis' aggressive style could leave openings for Paddy, and that's exactly what happened. Paddy caught a leg kick, and slipped the D’Arce choke in, putting a crazy amount of pressure on it securing him the submission victory.

This fight had us fired up. We thought Paddy might find the submission in the second round, but getting it done in the first was even better. A huge win and another prediction cashed.

Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway

The most anticlimactic and disappointing fight in UFC history.

You have to feel for Conor McGregor. He throws a flying kick seconds into the fight, lands awkwardly, and appears to suffer a serious knee injury. At the time of writing this we don’t know the exact injury but I’m guessing it was an ACL tear.

There isn't much to break down because the fight ended almost before it began. If this was the last time, we see Conor compete inside the Octagon, it's a sad ending for one of the biggest stars the sport has ever seen.

Betting Recap

We finished 3/5 on our UFC 329 predictions, cashing two underdog picks along the way. It was a difficult card to predict, but four of those fights had us jumping.

We'll be back with more picks soon, so stay ready for our World Cup semifinal predictions.