Dana White Contender Series: Week 1 Predictions, Picks and Betting Odds August 13

Dana White Contender Series Betting Preview

UFC WagerTalk handicapper Andy Lang gives his Dana White Contender Series picks and predictions for August 13th with the main event headlined by Mansur Abdul-Malik vs Wes Schultz in a middleweight fight. The main card starts up at 7:00pm ET from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, NV.

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Mansur Abdul-Malik vs Wes Schultz: Dana White Contender Series Main Event

Tuesday, August 13	Dana White Contender Series Betting Notes (Courtesy of Caesars)
Moneyline:	Mansur Abdul-Malik -305 vs Wes Schultz +245
Rounds:	N/A
Fight Time:	Main Card Starts at 7:00pm ET / 4:00pm PT
Arena:	UFC APEX in Las Vegas, NV
TV:	ESPN+

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Dana White Contender Series Predictions

Loneer Kavanagh -175 vs An Tuan Ho +150

I think Kavanagh is the most UFC ready of the two as he has the better striking on the feet, and I think he may have a pretty big strength advantage.

Ho showed some nice moves on the ground in his last fight, but I don’t see this fight taking place on the ground as both guys have good ground games, but they are more comfortable on the feet.

Ho has good speed, but he leaves himself open, and I think that will lead to Kavanagh having a few more big moments on the feet. Ho lunges in a lot on his punches, and he’s open to the counter shot so I think Kavanagh edges out a close decision win.

Jose Delgado -315 vs Ernie Juarez +265

Delgado is the biggest favorite on this card for a reason. His striking is very powerful, and he’s relentless with his pressure.

I like that he has a 3rd round finish a couple of fights ago, and in that fight he got rocked early, and he survived, recovered and got the finish. Juarez doesn’t seem to respond well to pressure, and Delgado is certainly going to pressure him.

Juarez comes from Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat series, and the competition just isn’t very good there. Delgado should get the win, and a contract.

Bruno Lopes -190 vs Mikheil Sazhiniani +165

This will be Lopes’s second fight on Contender Series as he got melted in the first round as a big favorite against Brendson Ribeiro, and he responded by getting a solid finish in the LFA in January.

I though Lopes looked slow and cocky on Contender Series, and although I wasn’t impressed by his LFA win, he looked a lot better.

He has good takedowns and BJJ, but his striking is just a bit slow to me. Sazhiniani has fought most of his fights in the GFC, which I don’t know much about, but the competition isn’t very good.

Sazhiniani doesn’t have amazing skills, and his cardio isn’t very good so I really don’t want to pick him to get the win here.

Lopes is the play, but I hate the price, and even if he gets a contract, I don’t see much success in the UFC for him.

If Lopes is smart, he’ll take Sazhiniani down and work the ground game, but he should have done that in his first Contender Series fight, and he didn’t do that and it cost him. Probably a stay away from a betting perspective.

Meng Ding -172 vs Rami Hamed +147

Hamed has won his last two fights by leg kick KO’s, and while his kicks are powerful, his competition has been awful, and I’m sure we’ll see a lot of leg kicks early so it will be up to Ding to weather the storms on those.

Hamed fought three times in 202, twice in 2022, but he’s had no fights in 2023 or 2024, but on his IG he’s put up videos of him working on his punches, which is good because his punches in the past have been pretty terrible, and in much need of improvement.

Ding has fough a TON of fights, 42 pro fights, but this will be his first fight in 2024, which I like, as he is probably the healthiest he’s been in a while.

He has really good forward pressure, and I think closing the distance, pushing Hamed against the fence and working the grappling is the easiest path to victory for him. If he doesn’t absorb too many leg kicks, I think Ding can win this easy, but it only takes a few of those leg kicks to do damage.

I think taking this fight to not go the distance is a sneaky way to play this one as Ding can finish him on the ground, but Hamed can finish him with his kicks.

Dana White Contender Series Event: Mansur Abdul-Malik -305 vs Wes Schultz +245

I really don’t have a strong opinion on how to bet this main event so I’ll be sitting this one out. Both guys have shown good wrestling, takedowns and finishes recently, but they probably cancel each other out so I don’t see who has the advantage in the wrestling and ground game.

I would lean Spivac as I really like how his game has evolved, but we just watched him have no success against Gane, and on the feet he got tired and knocked out in round 2.

Tybura isn’t amazing on the feet, but I’ve watched him go deep into fights, and if he can get this out of round 1, I see him having the cardio advantage based on how gassed Spivac looked against Gane.

The under 3.5 rounds is -130, and maybe that’s the best way to play this as I think Spivac needs a finish early, and if he doesn’t get it he may be in trouble quick. Keep your live lines open, and the second you see Spivac start to gas, jump on Tybura, but pre-fight I’ll pass.

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