Stitty Wap Preview and Predictions: Dream Middleweight Headlines Fight Island 3: Whittaker vs Till

Crazy fights last week as I pulled a Golden State Warriors and blew a 3-1 lead (6-2 lost the final 3). But on to the MMA community's Title Fight, the much anticipated Darren Till vs Robert Whittaker Main Event for Fight Island 3 in Abu Dhabi this Saturday July 25th on ESPN. There are a lot of fun fight taking place on Yas Island this weekend and I have highlighted the Main Event, Lock of the Night, and Upset of the Night below. I will be making all of my picks this Saturday a few hours before the Prelims and will be posting some parlays and prop bets that I love in this one. Enjoy the blog, leave comments and feedback and let's get rich this Saturday and by rich I mean hopefully make like $50. #RideWithStittyWap.

OVERALL RECORD: 74-35 (6-5 last)

LOCK OF THE NIGHT: 1-1 (Marc Diakiese last) (Khamzat Chimaev)

UPSET: 1-1 (Askar Askarov last) (Carla Esparza)

UFC Fight Island 3: Whittaker vs. Till fight card, odds

• Middleweight (185): Robert Whittaker (-120) vs. Darren Till (+100)

• Light Heavyweight (205): Mauricio Rua (-200) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (+175)

• Heavyweight (265): Alexander Gustafsson (-300) vs. Fabricio Werdum (+250)

• W Strawweight (115): Carla Esparza (+130) vs. Maria Rodriguez (-150)

• Light Heavyweight (205): Paul Craig (-110) vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov (-110)

• Welterweight (170): Nicolas Dalby (-270) vs. Jesse Ronson (+230)

• Welterweight (170): Alex Oliveira (-175) vs. Peter Sobotta (+155)

• Lightweight (155): Jai Herbert (+135) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (-155)

• Heavyweight (265): Tom Aspinall (-200) vs. Jake Collier (+170)

• Featherweight (145): Movsar Evloev (-190) vs. Mike Grundy (+170)

• Heavyweight (265): Tanner Boser (-240) vs. Raphael Pessoa (+200)

• W Bantamweight (135): Bethe Correia (+100) vs. Pannie Kianzad (-120)

• Welterweight (170): Ramazan Emeev (-380) vs. Niklas Stolze (+310)

(Via CBS)

NOTABLE FIGHTS: Alexander Gustafsson (-300) vs. Fabricio Werdum (+250), Mauricio Rua (-200) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (+175), Jai Herbert (+135) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (-155)

Men’s Middleweight/Main Event (170)

#1: Robert "The Reaper" Whittaker, (20-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) (Favorite)

#5: Darren "The Gorilla" Till, (18-3-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC), (Underdog)

This fight has been criminally underrated thanks to the mystic of Fight Island and some of the fact there have been so many events over the past month. This will surely be a $50k bonus (so now that I said that it will probably suck) and is a fantastic fan-friendly match-up.

This fight marks the return of Robert "The Reaper" Whittaker, whom has not fought since his brutal title TKO loss to Israel Adesanya last year in his home country of Australia (a place that has not been friendly to his fight career considering how many fight he had to withdraw from). Since moving up to Middleweight (185) from Welterweight (170) Whittaker went on an absolutely tear TKO/KO'ing Derek Brunson, Brad Tavares, Uriah Hall, and Jacare Souza having back-to-back instant classic wins over Yoel Romero. At just 29-years old Whittaker should be a fixture at the top of the division for years to come and with a win or two will be fighting for the title again

Darren Till has been an overnight sensation since his upset KO victory against Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone in 2017. One of the sport's biggest stars thanks to his brash personality and insane social media (the guy literally broke Mike Perry's brain with how much he trolled him) he looks to capture the biggest win of his career thus far. At just 27, Till has been through some major events in his UFC career already, as mentioned two massive wins over top Welterweight contenders in Cowboy Cerrone and Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson followed by an awful performance in his title shot against Tyron Woodley, where he landed 0, YES, 0 significan strikes and was submitted in the 2nd round. He followed up that performance with a highlight reel KO loss to Jorge "Gamebred" Masvidal in front of his homecrowd in London. Till, being a massive Welterweight (literally a Gorilla) made the move up to Middleweight and outpointed top contender Kelvin Gastelum. A win here puts Till in position for a 2nd title shot in his young career but has a massive task in Robert Whittaker.

BET/PREDICTION (Whittaker by TKO/KO)

It kills me to pick against either one of these guys because I am a massive fan of both but also love this fight as a fan of the sport. Both of these guys will look to keep it standing as that's where they do their work from, but Whittaker is the far more diverse fighter. Now Rob had a difficult time getting inside of Adesanya's reach in his last fight but is facing a far less technical striker in Till. Not saying Till doesn't have a big left hand, but, that is really all he has as a threat in this fight. "Bobby Knuckles" won't leave himself as vulnerable as he did lunging in against "Stylebender" and land some clean lead hooks that should put Till away around the 2nd-3rd round.

LOCK OF THE NIGHT (Khamzat Chimaev def. Rhys McKee)

Not a Lock of the Night I have loved more in the history of this blog than Khamzat Chimaev over Rhys McKee. Chimaev will be just 10 days removed from his UFC debut where he absolutely mauled John Phillips from bell til his D'Arce finish in the 2nd round. At just 26 years old and sitting at 7-0 Chimaev looks like a contender already with elite level wrestling and GnP. Props to McKee for taking this fight after a successful run in Cage Warriors but this is a very tall task in his UFC debut. The size/strength/wrestling of Chimaev will be too much in this fight and I would predict he gets an early stoppage here.

UPSET OF THE NIGHT (Carla Esparza def. Marina Rodriguez)

Not many fights I loved here for the Upset of the Night. Some fights did pique my interest (Gus/Werdum, Grundy/Evolev, Herbert/Trinaldo) but this is the one I feel the most confident in considering this is such a disparity of skillsets.

Marina Rodriguez has had a crazy start to her UFC career, with 2 draws to add to her 12-0-2 record to the likes of Cynthia Cavillo and Randa Markos (both of which Esparza also had very close fights with) due to their wrestling ability. Marina is clearly one of the best strikers in the division and will have no issue with Esparza on the feet. The problem? She has shown the ability to get grinded in her fights with Randa and Cavillo, in fact, she was way ahead in the Cavillo fight until she was 10-8'd in the 3rd round. Not to say she does not have good Takedown D (she does) but "Cookie Monster" is a veteran and has shown the ability to hang with best of the best (obviously she was the former champ). This will probably be a very close decision and boring fight but I always side with wrestling in these type of fights and think it's worth the gamble to bet with the underdog here.

UFC FIGHT ISLAND 3 PICKS