Beneil Dariush vs Mateusz Gamrot Prediction: No quick ending

On October 22 a powerful tournament UFC 280 will take place in Abu Dhabi. Beneil Dariush and Mateusz Gamrot will fight to decide the contender for the lightweight title in the main card.

Dariush, 33, is the sixth ranked lightweight and is on a winning streak of seven straight. In his last fight, Beneil laid Tony Ferguson, causing a lot of anger in the public. The Iranian-American is hardly a spectacular fighter, but for the past four years his methods have worked without fail.

There is no particular aspect in which Dariush can be called a true top-tier, but that only plays into his hands, hiding a serious threat. Beneil is confident on the ground, he has a good cardio and he can knock out opponents easily. It is the combination of these qualities that allows Dariush to be rated so high. The American was initially scheduled to fight Islam Makhachev in the challenger bout, but Beneil's injury made adjustments to his plans.

According to Dariush, the winner of this fight will be the next challenger. However, there is Alex Volkanovski, who is called the next competitor of the Makhachev-Oliveira fight winner.

The 31-year-old Polish fighter is very similar in his capabilities to his opponent. With a powerful record (21-1, 1 NC), Gamrot has crept up on the top fairly unnoticed. After losing his debut fight under Dana White to Guram Kutateladze, the Pole has now snapped a four-fight winning streak. Mateusz is now ranked #9, and in his last fight he fought not just any competitor, but Arman Tsarukyan. Like Dariush, Gamrot can be both a fierce fighter in the standup and on the ground. And now Mateusz only has one step left to make for the title fight in the most competitive division of the UFC.

You can take a look at the objective stats to help you make a good bet.

It seems we're in for a real chess match in the octagon. Both fighters are well aware that the stakes in this confrontation are high, and will try to fight as calculated as possible, for fear of making a mistake. Gamrot is a serious favorite at Bet365. They offered to bet on his victory for 1.53, while Dariush's success is rated 2.62.

We can't agree with those odds, because the chances of the fighters seem almost equal. Beneil should not be written off early, he's much more experienced than the Pole. But we have to remember that Dariush is coming back after quite a long downtime, and Gamrot fought just recently. Betting on the winner of this fight is quite dangerous, that's why we'll choose another option.

Our prediction: the opponents will take their time and the fight will go into the third round. You can bet on Total Over (2.5) rounds with a good odds of around 1.50.