Sergey Morozov vs Douglas Silva de Andrade: Expect a bright win from Sergey

On February 13, the UFC 271 tournament will take place in Houston (USA). In one of the preliminary card, fighters from Kazakhstan Sergey Morozov will meet Brazilian Douglas Silva de Andrade.

The fight will take place in the bantamweight division. Neither fighter is in the top 15 of the official UFC rankings. Morozov is the bookmakers' favourite.

MMA fans very well know Sergey Morozov from the former Soviet Union, and they care a lot about him. He is a three-time world champion in mixed martial arts, former M-1 champion, who has quite deservedly received a contract in the UFC. Sergey had two fights in the world's strongest league. In his debut fight, he lost to rising star Umar Nurmagomedov but then closed the loss by winning a unanimous decision over Khalid Taha (13-3 record at the time).

He lost in the stand-up in that fight but successfully converted and controlled. At the same time, the experts noted that the Kazakh's victory was dominant. He allowed little to the German, and in the comments of the fighters, the word The Beast was heard about him.

The fight with Andrade will be decisive for Morozov, after which the league will decide whether to offer a new contract to the fighter or not. Therefore victory must be not simply convincing but bright and spectacular. Sergey can do it. His record stands at 65% early wins.

The Brazilian has been fighting in the UFC since 2014, and since 2017 has strictly alternated between wins and losses (but he has lost to very strong fighters - Rob Font, Petr Yan, Lerone Murphy). Nevertheless, there's hope for trendsetters. Now it's the turn as de Andrade knocked out Gaetano Pirrello (15-7 record, two fights, two losses in the UFC) in his last encounter.

I'm grateful to the UFC and Sergey Morozov. We need opponents to do our job. And, as usual, the UFC has put me up against another real tough guy. It's going to be another war - and nothing else. We've been pitted against each other because people want action. That's why we're here. I'm honing every aspect in training as he's a striker and a fighter. He's good in every way.

Douglas Silva de Andrade

Quite a decent favourite in this confrontation is Sergey Morozov. The odds on his win is 1.47 (on the Brazilian's win is 2.73). But the Kazakh has everything he needs for an early victory (and an early win for his opponent, too, can't be ruled out). Therefore, a bet on Total Under 2.5 for 2.50 looks good.

At the same time, the odds for a full fight - no are 2.20, and Morozov's victory by knockout is considered more likely than his victory by submission (3.40 and 6.50).