UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Volkov Predictions, Odds & Picks

• UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem stated that he has one last title push in him before he retires and that push starts Saturday in the Fight Night main event against Alexander Volkov
• After a three-event stint on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, the UFC returns to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada for the foreseeable future
• An anticipated bantamweight bout between Cory Sandhagen and Frankie Edgar has been rescheduled to take place on this card

Odds from DraftKings. Get up to a $1,000 sign-up bonus at DraftKings today or check out more offers and promo codes for the best online sportsbooks.

UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Volkov – Picks & Predictions

Alistair Overeem vs Alexander Volkov – Heavyweight Division

Alistair Overeem (+150)

Cory Sandhagen vs Frankie Edgar – Bantamweight Division

Cory Sandhagen (-400)

Marion Reneau vs Macy Chiasson – Women’s Bantamweight Division

Macy Chiasson (-125)

Alexandre Pantoja vs Manel Kape – Flyweight Division

Manel Kape (+100)

Carlos Diego Ferreira vs Beneil Dariush – Lightweight Division

Beneil Dariush (+105)

How to Watch UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Volkov

Alistair Overeem vs Alexander Volkov – Heavyweight Division

Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem

Ever since losing his first and only UFC title fight, Alistair Overeem has always seemed one big win away from another shot at the gold. Unfortunately, he seems to always come up short. Two huge TKO wins over Sergei Pavlovich and Alexey Oleinik led him to a fight with Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Overeem was dominating the fight but was ultimately knocked out (not without controversy) in the final ten seconds of the fight – killing his momentum.

Now Overeem finds himself amidst another two-fight winning streak. He defeated Walt Harris via second-round TKO last May and, most recently, followed that win up with a fifth-round TKO over Augusto Sakai last September.

Alistair Overeem is a highly decorated MMA veteran. He is a former Strikeforce and DREAM heavyweight champion as well as a former K-1 World Grand Prix kickboxing champion. A former Jackson-Wink MMA Academy student, Overeem now spends his time training with the Elevation Fight Team with coach Eliot Marshall. He has been competing since 2009 and holds a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Joaquim Valente, Gui Valente, and Pedro Valente. At the time of writing, he ranks as the fifth-best UFC heavyweight and is one of the most gifted and feared strikers the sport has ever known.

He averages fewer strikes per minute than his opponent but compared to Volkov’s 59-percent, 73-percent of Overeem’s strikes are considered significant.

Alexander “Drago” Volkov

Alexander Volkov joined the ranks of the UFC in 2016 and took off immediately on a four-fight winning streak, a streak that included wins over Stefan Struve and former champion Fabricio Werdum. His last four fights, however, have seen him go just 2-2.

Following the win over Werdum, Volkov was knocked out by Derrick Lewis in the last minute of their UFC 229 fight. He bounced back to earn a unanimous decision victory over Greg Hardy but then quickly suffered a unanimous decision loss of his own against Curtis Blaydes last June. His most recent bout took place last October at UFC 254. He fought Walt Harris and earned a second-round TKO victory.

The Russian fighter trains in Moscow with the Strela Team. He holds a black belt in Tsu Shin Gen as well as brown belts in Kyokushin karate and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Like Overeem, Volkov has also been competing since 2009. He is a former M-1 Global and Bellator heavyweight champion. He is currently ranked as the sixth-best heavyweight in the division.

Volkov averages a significantly higher strike output than Overeem, averaging 6.19 significant strikes-per-minute compared to Overeem’s 3.65.

Cory Sandhagen vs Frankie Edgar – Bantamweight Division

Cory “The Sandman” Sandhagen

Cory Sandhagen joined the UFC roster in early 2018 and immediately made an impact, starting his UFC career off with a five-fight winning streak. The streak included notable wins over the likes of John Lineker and Raphael Assuncao.

When former bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo retired and vacated his title, a title-eliminator bout was set-up between Sandhagen and Aljamain Sterling to see who would fight Petr Yan for the title next. The fight took place last June at UFC 250 and unfortunately for Sandhagen, he was submitted via rear-naked choke in the first round. Luckily for Sandhagen he escaped the fight uninjured and was able to turn things around quickly and he took on former title challenger Marlon Moraes just over three months later. He defeated Moraes via TKO in the second round, earning a performance bonus.

Fighting since 2015, the American fighter trains in Colorado with teammate Alistair Overeem and the Elevation Fight Team. He holds a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under coach Eliot Marshall. A former LFA competitor, Sandhagen is currently ranked as the second-best bantamweight in the UFC.

He holds all the physical advantages heading into this fight against Frankie Edgar. Sandhagen is 11-year younger, stands five-inches taller, and has a longer reach by two inches. At -400, he is the biggest betting favorite on the main card.

Frankie “The Answer” Edgar

A former UFC lightweight champion and three-time UFC featherweight title challenger, Frankie Edgar has gone 1-1 since losing his title shot to Max Holloway in 2019. After that loss, he took on the Korean Zombie in a fight that Edgar stepped in on short notice for. Unfortunately, he lost the bout via TKO in the first round.

Following the loss to the Zombie, Edgar made the move down to bantamweight – the third weight class of his UFC career. He made his debut at 135-pounds last August against Pedro Munhoz. In an extremely close fight, Edgard eked out the split-decision victory in what was deemed the fight of the night.

Competing since 2005, Edgar boasts NCAA Division I wrestling credentials as well as a first-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ricardo Almeida. He trains in New Jersey with Ricardo Almeida BJJ as well as with KHK MMA Fight Team with coaches Almeida, Mark Henry, and Steve Rivera. He enters this contest as the number-four ranked bantamweight.

As mentioned earlier, there aren’t many physical advantages for Edgar in this bout but one can never completely disregard his experience and durability inside the octagon. His grappling skills, on paper, are also superior to those of Sandhagen – who, as mentioned above, has been submitted quite recently.

Marion Reneau vs Macy Chiasson – Women’s Bantamweight Division

Marion “The Belizean Bruiser” Reneau

Fighting just once in 2019 and once in 2020, Marion Reneau currently finds herself amidst a three-fight losing streak. Following back-to-back wins in 2017 and 2018, Reneau dropped three-straight unanimous decision losses to Cat Zingano in 2018, Yana Kunitskaya in 2019, and Raquel Pennington in June 2020. She has not fought since.

The 43-year-old American fighter has been competing since 2010 and currently trains out of California with Elite Team. She holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Cleber Luciano and Tom Knox as well as a light blue/dark blue belt in muay thai under Rafael Cordeiro. Much like Frankie Edgar, Reneau enters her fight Saturday at age, height, and reach disadvantages.

She is currently ranked as the number-ten women’s bantamweight.

Macy Chiasson

Though a relative newcomer to the sport of MMA, Macy Chiasson has already seen a lot of success during her time under the UFC banner. Chiasson entered and won the Ultimate Fighter 28 women’s featherweight tournament in 2018 after being just 2-0 as a professional.

She won her next two UFC bouts via TKO before being defeated by Lina Landsberg by a unanimous decision in 2019. Her most recent bout took place last February where Chiasson beat Shanna Young by unanimous decision. She was scheduled to fight last September but was forced to pull out of her bout which was to be against Sijara Eubanks.

Training out of New Orleans, Chiasson has been competing in MMA since 2017 and currently trains with Triump Krav Maga and Fortis MMA. She is ranked as number-12 in the division.

She enters the cage 14-years younger than her opponent. She stands three-inches taller and has a longer reach by four-inches.

Alexandre Pantoja vs Manel Kape – Flyweight Division

Alexandre “The Cannibal” Pantoja

The Brazilian-born Alexandre Pantoja has gone just 2-2 over his last four UFc appearances. He defeated former title challenger Wilson Reis but followed that up with a loss to current flyweight champion Deiveison Figueiredo at UFC 240. After that fight, Pantoja earned a first-round knockout over Matt Schnell but in his most recent effort last July dropped a unanimous decision to Askar Askarov.

Training with Blackhouse MMA out of Brazil in the past, Pantoja now trains in the United States with American Top Team. He is a former flyweight champion for the RFA and Shooto Brazil and is currently ranked as the fifth-best fighter in the UFC flyweight division.

Manel “Prodigio” Kape

Spending much of his mixed martial arts career as a competitor with RIZIN, not much is known about Manel Kape as he prepares to make his UFC debut this Saturday.

The Portuguese fighter is currently riding a three-fight professional winning streak and last fought on new year’s eve in 2020. He took on Kai Asakura and won by knockout in the second round at RIZIN 20.

Physically, these two men are almost identical but it should be noted that an official reach statistic for Manel Kape could not be found in time for this article. There is a slight disadvantage for Kape as he has yet to feel what competition in a UFC octagon feels like. But we like Kape as a +100 underdog.

Carlos Diego Ferreira vs Beneil Dariush – Lightweight Division

Carlos Diego Ferreira

Carlos Diego Ferreria has been enjoying a lot of success in the UFC as of late. Following back-to-back losses to Beneil Dariush (yes, this is a rematch) and Dustin Poirier in 2014 and 2015, Ferreira amassed a six-fight winning streak that is still on-going. His latest matchup came against former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis last January at UFC 246. Ferreira choked out the former champion in the second round with a rear-naked choke, earning him a performance of the night bonus.

The Brazilian fighter comes into this fight with a two-inch reach advantage over Dariush. Training with Team Ferreira as well as with ATOS jiu-jitsu, Ferreira boasts a third-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Fighting competitively since 2011, he is currently ranked as the 10th-best lightweight in the division.

Beneil Dariush

Like his opponent, Beneil Dariush also finds himself amidst a UFC winning streak; five fights in a row, to be exact. Dariush fought twice in 2020 and finished them both in spectacular fashion. At UFC 248, he knocked out Drakkar Klose in the second round. He followed that performance with a fight last August against Scott Holtzman, whom he knocked out in the first round with a spinning back fist. It should be noted that Dariush missed weight for the Holtzman fight.

Dariush comes into this fight one-inch taller and five-years younger than Ferreira. A fellow grappler, Dariush holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Romulo Barral and Bruno Paulista. He also holds a black belt in muay thai under Rafael Cordeiro. Fighting since 2009, Dariush is ranked at number 13 in the UFC lightweight division.