Dana White Contender Series: Week 2 Predictions, Picks and Betting Odds August 20

Dana White Contender Series Betting Preview

UFC WagerTalk handicapper Andy Lang gives his Week 2 Dana White Contender Series picks and predictions for August 20th with the main event headlined by Andreas Gustafsson vs Pat Pytlik in a welterweight fight. The main card starts up at 7:00pm ET from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, NV.

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Andreas Gustafsson vs Pat Pytlik: Dana White Contender Series Main Event

Tuesday, August 20	Dana White Contender Series Betting Notes (Courtesy of Caesars)
Moneyline:	Andreas Gustafsson -250 vs Pat Pytlik +205
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 Week 2 Predictions

Cody Haddon -192 vs Billy Brand +160

I’m finding that I’m not impressed with these guys coming out of Urijah Faber’s A1 League, and Billy Brand seems to fit into that category.

Payton Talbott has been incredible coming out of that league, and it feels like they’re searching for the next star, but Talbott is a unicorn and way better than everyone else on that roster. Brand has looked decent in his fights, but pretty weak competition outside of when he fought Payton Talbott, and he got knocked out.

Brand likes to showboat in his fights, but it comes across really cocky, and unwarranted as he’s fighting guys with 3 and 2 fights on their record.

His striking is decent, but not great, his wrestling and takedowns are decent, but not great, and he leaves himself open to get hit. His cardio is fantastic, and he looks to be pretty tough, but I can’t get behind him here.

Haddon is a lot of fun to watch as he comes forward with lots of pressure, and lots of volume. He gets hit quite a bit because he doesn’t block any punches because he’s too busy firing away on his opponent, but it’s worked so far for him, and I think it works again here.

Haddon went the distance against Steve Erceg in 2021, and even though he lost it was a solid performance against a great fighter.

This is a perfect Contender Series fight as both guys are entertaining, but I think the volume and power of Haddon gets the better of Brand here.

I’ll be tracking these guys coming from A1 Combat as I don’t think they’re very good, and we saw Ernie Juarez last week get knocked out so they’re 0-1 this season.

Torrez Finney -500 vs Cam Rowston +380

Finney fought on CS last season, and he won easily, but didn’t get the contract as Dana told him he needed some more work and experience before he’s UFC ready, and I agreed completely.

Finney is a tank, he has insane power, and when he gets his hands wrapped around his opponents they get picked up and slammed. Seriously, I haven’t seen many guys pick guys up this easy in MMA.

Think Daniel Cormier in his prime. His striking defense has been really bad so that needs to be fixed, and his striking offense isn’t great, but he does have power. Finney had a fight a couple months ago, and he murdered a guy with his striking so that shows me he’s been working hard on improving.

Roston is nothing special, he’s tall and has a huge reach advantage, but he’s fought awful competition, and he hasn’t fought in almost two years. He’s sloppy, and has no upside. Finney should overwhelm this guy and get the KO or Sub on the ground.

Cortavious Romious -270 vs Michael Imperato +220

Don’t blink in a Romious fight. His fights are generally really quick as he’s kill or be killed, and his last five fights have ended in the first round.

He got a last minute chance last season on CS, but he got knocked out in 30 seconds as he tried to go toe-to-toe in the middle of the octagon against a boxer (bad idea).

His last three wins have come by armbar, but Imperato is a jiu jitsu specialist, and sometimes his fights get really boring as there are long exchanges on the ground with little action.

I don’t think he’s that good as his striking isn’t great, and he accepts position on the bottom, and his style isn’t what Dana White is looking for. One of his wins (against Toliver) was a horrible split decision so he really should have been on a three fight losing streak.

I don’t want to bet on either of these guys as Imperato isn’t impressive, but Romious is so boom or bust, that he could be bust and at -270 I’m not willing to lay that price. I would take this fight under 2.5 as Romious will force a fast pace, and my guess is someone gets finished early.

Rizvan Kuniev -500 vs Hugo Cunha +380

Kuniev’s last fight was against Renan Ferreira where he got the win in the PFL, but it was overturned as Kuniev tested positive for every steroid and Ferreira even said something didn’t feel right in that fight, and Kuniev’s backne was a sure fire sign he was on all the steroids.

He’s a classic Russian wrestler who likes to force the clinch and takedowns, but it’s basically the style that Dana hates the most, but Dana needs heavyweights as the division is ironically really thin.

He’ll fight Cunha, who has a good record, but he doesn’t look polished at striking or takedowns. He has good cardio for a big fighter as he got a last second round submission win against Eduardo Nunes in LFA, and that could pay dividends against a guy who has clearly been fighting while on steroids.

I won’t bet this fight now, but I’ll be watching live, and I’ll be looking to see if Kuniev isn’t as strong as he used to be or if he starts to tire quickly and I’ll look to play Cunha live. I can’t lay -500 off a guy coming off a positive steroid test, but a live bet could be a great play to fade him if I see he’s not the same guy.

Dana White Contender Series Event: Andreas Gustafsson vs Pat Pytlik

Gustafsson is a brawler, and he’s a tough SOB. His war against Lampinen was crazy as both guys were destroyed on their faces, but Gustafsson got the ground and pound win with his nose completely broken, both guys covered in blood, Lampinen’s eyes almost swollen shut…it was one of the craziest fights I’ve ever seen.

I put the link below if you want to see it. Gustafsson wants to stand and bang, and he’s got good power and durability, but I don’t think he should be -250. Pytlik has good striking, and he’ll welcome the physicality and striking.

I think Gustafsson is a bit more polished with his strking, but Pytlik is pretty strong in, and his length could be a problem for Gustafsson.

Pytlik is another tough SOB, as he had a serious back injury after his fight in 2019, and he said he couldn’t kick or wrestle so he decided to do a boxing match where it was just punching, and he somehow got it to a draw.

He had to get surgery, and he came back in 2022 and got a great KO win, and then he had another KO in January earlier this year so he looks to be fully healthy.

What’s interesting is both these guys are in their mid 30’s and Dana always says he isn’t looking for 30+ year old contenders so both these guys know they’ll have to put on a great fight to have a chance to get a contract.

I would say there’s 0.01% chance this fight goes to the distance as someone is going to sleep, and in this fight that looks to be a bar room brawl, I think a sprinkle on Pytlik is worth it.

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