Dana White and the UFC are back to their regular schedule of weekly events with UFC 252: Stipe Miocic vs Daniel Cormier III next on the schedule in Las Vegas, so let’s look at our picks.

UFC 252 Las Vegas Picks & Odds

Junior dos Santos (+115) vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik (-120)

Both dos Santos and Rozenstruik are coming off losses heading in to UFC 252 and need to get their names back in the win column.  This fight has slobber knocker written all over it as both men are powerful strikers who are not afraid to let their hands go.

Junior has been a contender in this division for the entirety of his impressive 12-year run in the UFC.  He is 3-2 in his last five fights, which include dropping his previous two to Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes.  Not the best news heading into a fight at 36 years old.  But those two guys are two young bucks with title shots in their future so I won’t be too hard on JDS for the losses.

I think it’s these situations however where dos Santos is most deadly.

This is not the first time the again champ has appeared to be running on fumes.  The UFC handles this by giving him some lesser opponents to help him right the ship.

The last time, Dana White had him face Blagoy Ivanov and Tai Tuivasa to get him back in gear.

While those two are hardly pushovers, they were not equipped to handle dos Santos.  Junior followed that up with an impressive stop over crowd favorite Derrick Lewis via 2nd round TKO.

Now, after two losses, can Junior step up and once again defy not only father time, but also the betting odds.

Much like dos Santos, Jarizinho’s latest loss came at the hands of Francis Ngannou and needs this win to catapult him back into the heavyweight title conversation.  The 32-year-old former kickboxer is raw but very powerful and needs to be respected when these two are on their feet.

Just ask Alistair Overeem who suffered a TKO with just four seconds left in the final round to ‘Big Boi’ last December.

While I do like Rozenstruik as a fighter I think this fight sends him tumbling down the division rankings and further away from a coveted title shot.

Junior dos Santos is a former champion with the kind of fight experience that goes a long way in bouts such as this.

Big Boi has the talent and is a physical threat to be sure.  But he is still raw and doesn’t possess a particularly impressive ground game.  As long as JDS plays it cool and doesn’t get rocked too early, he should cruise to a win here in my book.

Junior dos Santos is a far more well-rounded fighter with all the intangibles to cash as an underdog in Vegas Saturday night.

Best UFC 252 Bet: Junior dos Santos (+115)

Stipe Miocic (-105) vs Daniel Cormier (-115)

The main event of UFC 252 features Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier going at it for the third, and final time inside the octagon. These two have a bitter feud and this rubber match will finally settle things for good.

At 41 years old, Cormier has already announced this will be his last fight. He has been fighting off nagging injuries for years and is rarely 100% healthy.  But, if he isn’t banged up right now and in championship shape, this is his fight to win or lose.

The fact is, Cormier is just a better all-around fighter with the exception of his stamina.  DC has a ton of weapons which give him more ways to win.  This bodes well for him in what I expect to be a slow and technical fight.  Look for Cormier to mix in a lot more takedowns than last time out and not let Miocic divert this team from their gameplan.

Miocic will likely go back to his plan of focusing on Cormier’s body early as he did in his first fight.  Despite losing that bout, Miocic’s bodywork in that fight had a huge impact on Cormier and his already limited stamina.  It opened him up to headshots and this is largely how Miocic took the second fight of this rivalry.

This is set to be a close fight in just about every way.  The UFC odds for a bet online reflect this with not much separating the two.

The main event is basically a pick’em with a few outlets showing Miocic as a slight favorite.

Cormier will try to wrestle his way to victory while Miocic will try to end things on his feet.

These are a pair of the best to ever lace up their gloves and will be looking to put a cherry on top of their career with one final big win.

Frankly, there is so much emotion in the mix here, I hesitate to take a firm stance on a winner.

Gun to my head, I’m betting Cormier.

But these two are so well matched and so desperate for a win, ill be looking elsewhere in the main event.

I don’t see either of these two guys coming out too hot and looking for a quick end. Both will be cautious of getting embarrassed early and will spend most of the first five minutes feeling each other out.

It wouldn’t surprise me too much if the fight goes to a decision but for our purposes, I’ll be happy to take this clash of titans to go OVER 2.5 rounds.

Best UFC 252 Bet: OVER 2.5 (-140)