Robert Whittaker vs Marvin Vettori Prediction: Betting on the Aussie to Win

The UFC Fight Night 209 mixed martial arts tournament will take place in Paris on September 3. In the co-main event of the evening, Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori will share the cage.

The fight will take place in the middleweight division. Robert Whittaker is number one in the official rankings of the contenders in this division, and Marvin Vettori is number two. In bookmaker's betting odds, the big favorite is the fighter from Australia.

Whittaker is a former UFC champion, a true legend in the division who has retired several times. Robert faced the current champion, Israel Adesanya, twice, and both times he lost, but their last fight was a real showdown. Whittaker was better, punching more often and accurately, making take-downs, and pressing. Israel is remembered only for his artistic skills. Apparently, the UFC has already started to rate the fight like in figure skating.

In the last five years, the Italian fighter has lost only two fights every time to Israel Adesanya. However, in his second fight, he lost deservedly. He couldn't force the champion to fight on the ground and dominate. Definitely, that surprised him a lot.

But in his last fight, Vettori was already surprising. He fought with the knockout expert Paulo Costa and took a standup fight with him. Lo and behold, he beat him there.

Bookmakers and most experts see Robert Whittaker as the favorite.

I want to hit him as hard as I can. I've been working on hitting hard. I wanna test his mettle, you know, I understand the top fighter he is. It would be amazing to be the first one to finish him. These guys at the top level are very hard to finish, they're there for a reason, everyone's tough.

Robert Whittaker

But the odds on Robert's victory are very low, so it's more interesting to bet on his victory by a referee's decision. Vettori has never lost an early fight and has a crazy character and cast-iron jaw. Even after losing one round fight to Adesanya, he survived and waited for the end. And Whittaker is smart enough in a bout where he's doing quite well to force things somehow and try to finish his opponent. He won't do that.