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UFC 285 Sleeper Picks

By Jeff Stinger

For the second straight week, the UFC will host a premier pay-per-view event outside the United States, as UFC 284: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski will take place in Perth, Australia this Saturday. The champion vs. champion matchup between the titular fighters on the event’s title will headline the spectacle. Meanwhile, the rest of the main card of UFC 284 will also feature several intriguing matchups wherein the underdogs have decent shots at staging upsets this weekend.

Nitrobetting is here to train bettors in the realm of combat sports with in-depth coverage of the latest UFC events. This time, let’s take a closer look at the three best sleeper candidates to win their respective bouts in UFC 2843: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski, as well as their corresponding UFC odds to win the latest premium live MMA event set to take place Down Under.

Top UFC 285 Sleeper Picks

READ MORE: Jones vs. Gane UFC 285 Odds and Preview

Jon Jones vs. Cyril Gane // UFC Heavyweight Championship

All eyes will be on UFC great Jon Jones, who’s making his return to the Octagon for the first time since the pre-pandemic period in February of 2020. Jones is widely considered the best fighter to ever grace the UFC and will enter UFC 285 as the slim favorite to capture his first heavyweight title.

However, Jones is not in his element having to move up a weight class, thus he should not take natural heavyweight Ciryl Gane lightly. Gane may have lost his only shot at the belt when he lost to Francis Ngannou last year, but that remains the only blemish in his astounding 12-fight career that can somewhat rival Jones’ own glowing body of work to date.

UFC 285 Betting Pick: Cyril Gane

Geoff Neal vs. Shavkat Rakhmanov

With a perfect 16-0 MMA record (4-0 in the UFC) and with all of his wins coming via stoppage, there’s arguably no hotter fighter in the promotion right now than rising welterweight Shavkat Rakhmanov.

Such an impressive streak is more than enough to warrant a favorite status for the Uzbekistani’s next matchup, but seventh-ranked welterweight Geoff Neal is his toughest test in the Octagon yet. Neal is the more tenured fighter in the UFC with a 7-2 record since 2018, including posting back-to-back victories over a couple of notable sharks in the division in Vicente Luque and Santiago Ponzinibbio.

UFC 285 Betting Pick: Geoff Neal

Mateusz Gamrot vs. Jalin Turner

Similar to Neal and Rakhmanov’s situation from earlier, the lightweight bout between No. 7 Mateusz Gamrot and No. 10 Jalin Turner is a pivotal one for the division. Gamrot is the higher-ranked fighter entering the weekend, but he is coming off a crushing loss to Beneil Dariush and lost some grip on the standings in the process.

Meanwhile, Turner is riding a five-fight win streak, including a first-round submission victory over Brad Ridell last July to earn him his first Performance of the Night bonus. There’s more momentum on the side of “The Tarantula”, which makes Turner another appealing sleeper pick to stage an upset in the opening bout of UFC 285.

UFC 285 Betting Pick: Jalin Turner

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*All odds stated are subject to change without prior notice