UFC Vegas 57 betting: Best wagers for Arman Tsarukyan vs. Mateusz Gamrot

Arman Tsarukyan lost his UFC debut, but in the process made a rather loud statement. On April 20, 2019, he met Islam Makhachev in St. Petersburg, Russia, in a fight that featured a significant amount of wrestling.

Makhachev is, arguably, the best wrestler in the UFC’s lightweight division and one of the best, period, in the sport. And yet, he couldn’t manhandle Tsarukyan on the ground the way he has with so many others.

Tsarukyan has won his last five bouts since that loss to Makhachev, and it’s led him to his first main event. On Saturday at Apex in Las Vegas on the UFC campus, Tsarukyan will face Mateusz Gamrot in the main event of UFC Vegas 57.

Tsarukyan is a -275 favorite at BetMGM, while Gamrot is +225. On the prop bet, Will the fight go the distance, no is a -140 favorite. Yes is even money.

Both fighters are good wrestlers but are complete martial artists. Tsarukyan is 18-2 overall in MMA and has finished 12 of his 18 wins. Gamrot is 20-1 with a no-contest overall and has finished 12 of his 20 wins. His only loss was a split decision defeat to Guram Kutateladze on Oct. 18, 2020. He’s since reeled off three consecutive wins, all by finish.

One of Tsarukyan’s two defeats were by finish, so in the 41 fights they’ve had that have had a result, 25 of them were inside the distance.

But this will be a high-level chess game and the wrestling exchanges will ensure it’s a longer match.

That’s why I have focused on two wagers in this fight. I like Tsarukyan to win, but it’s always difficult to lay nearly 3-1, or -275 in this case. But BetMGM has Tsarukyan at +175 to win by decision, and that’s very attractive to me since I think the fight goes the distance.

I’ll bet yes that the fight goes the five full at even money, laying $100 to win $100. And I’ll bet that Tsarukyan wins by decision, laying $100 to hopefully make a $175 profit.

Other bets for UFC Vegas 57

• I will lay -200 and wager that the Nate Maness-Umar Nurmagomedov fight does not go the distance.

• I will take the +120 and bet Raulian Paiva to win over Sergey Morozov.

• I will lay the -275 and bet Jinh Yu Frey to defeat Vanessa Demopoulos.