UFC Fight Night 217 predictions: Who’s picking Sean Strickland over Nassourdine Imavov on short notice?

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UFC Fight Night 217 predictions: Who’s picking Sean Strickland over Nassourdine Imavov on short notice?
Imavov
vs.
Strickland
Ige
vs.
Jackson
Kopylov
vs.
Soriano
Pennington
vs.
Vieira
Barcelos
vs.
Nurmagomedov
MMA Junkie readers’
consensus picks
202-120 (2022)
Imavov
(51%)
ige2023
Ige
(62%)
soriano2023
Soriano
(68%)
vieira2023
Vieira
(67%)
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
(88%)
Ken Hathaway
@kenshathaway
215-112 (2022)
trophy copy 2018, 2022 Champion
Imavov jackson2023
Jackson
soriano2023
Soriano
vieira2023
Vieira
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
Matthew Wells
@MrMWells
209-118 (2022)
Imavov jackson2023
Jackson
soriano2023
Soriano
pennington2023
Pennington
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
Abbey Subhan
@kammakaze
204-123 (2022)
Imavov ige2023
Ige
soriano2023
Soriano
pennington2023
Pennington
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
Farah Hannoun
@Farah_Hannoun
203-124 (2022)
Imavov ige2023
Ige
soriano2023
Soriano
vieira2023
Vieira
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
Matt Erickson
@MMAjunkieMatt
201-126 (2022)
Imavov jackson2023
Jackson
soriano2023
Soriano
pennington2023
Pennington
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
Simon Samano
@SJSamano
201-126 (2022)
Imavov ige2023
Ige
soriano2023
Soriano
vieira2023
Vieira
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
Mike Bohn
@MikeBohn
200-127 (2022)
trophy copy 2014 Champion
Imavov jackson2023
Jackson
soriano2023
Soriano
pennington2023
Pennington
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
Nolan King
@mma_kings
192-135 (2022)
Imavov ige2023
Ige
soriano2023
Soriano
vieira2023
Vieira
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
Brian Garcia
@thegoze
190-137 (2022)
trophy copy 2017 Champion
Imavov ige2023
Ige
soriano2023
Soriano
vieira2023
Vieira
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
George Garcia
@MMAjunkieGeorge
181-146 (2022)
strickland2023
Strickland
ige2023
Ige
soriano2023
Soriano
pennington2023
Pennington
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov
Danny Segura
@dannyseguratv
161-166 (2022)
Imavov ige2023
Ige
soriano2023
Soriano
vieira2023
Vieira
nurmagomedov2023
Nurmagomedov

The UFC kicks off its 2023 with a home game, and a short-notice light heavyweight fight tops the lineup.

UFC Fight Night 217 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.

(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)

In the main event, Nassourdine Imavov (12-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) takes on Sean Strickland (25-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC). The fight is taking place at 205 pounds instead of middleweight after Strickland stepped in for Kelvin Gastelum on just five days’ notice. Strickland lost to Jared Cannonier in the UFC’s final event of 2022 a month ago.

Imavov is just a slight favorite at -130 at Tipico Sportsbook; the comeback on Strickland is +110. But Our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers have Imavov with a near-unanimous picks lead at 10-1.

In the co-feature, Dan Ige (15-6 MMA, 7-5 UFC) meets Damon Jackson (22-4-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC) at featherweight. Ige is a slight -125 favorite at the betting window, and it’s close with our pickers, too. They’ve got Ige with the narrowest possible lead at 6-5.

Also on the main card, Punahele Soriano (9-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) is just a -150 favorite at middleweight against Roman Kopylov (9-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC), but he’s one of our two unanimous picks at 11-0.

Raquel Pennington (14-9 MMA, 11-5 UFC) takes on Ketlen Vieira (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in a key women’s bantamweight bout. Vieira is a slight favorite at -125, but she’s got a decent 7-4 lead from our pickers.

And to open the main card, bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov (15-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is the biggest favorite on the entire event at nearly 10-1 against Raoni Barcelos (17-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC). Not surprisingly, Nurmagomedov is our other unanimous pick at 11-0.

In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Imavov (51 percent), Ige (62 percent), Soriano (68 percent), Vieira (67 percent) and Nurmagomedov (88 percent) are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 217.

UFC Fight Night 217 predictions: Who’s picking Sean Strickland over Nassourdine Imavov on short notice?