UFC Long Island Preview: Ortega vs Rodriguez

The UFC is back this weekend with a brand new card, headlined by top featherweight contenders Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez. The 12-fight card kicks off this Saturday, July 16th, with the Early Prelims beginning at 11:00 AM EST. The first fight on the card will be between Women’s Strawweight fighters Jessica Penne and Emily Ducote, which DraftKings Sportsbooks has as a close to pick-em’ bout (Ducote is a slight favorite at -150). If you want to start your Saturday off with a bang, I’d put my money on Penne to win by submission. Ducote is making her UFC debut and has proven her knockout ability, so Penne will surely be looking to take her down to the ground and impose ground dominance. 

A couple fights later we’ll be seeing Dustin Jacoby attempt to extend his 5 fight win streak (with a sixth fight draw) against fellow Light Heavyweight contender Jung Da Un. Da Un is coming off of a TKO win over Kennedy Nzechukwo back in Novermeber 2021, and has never lost in the UFC. Da Un has proven his ability to finish fights both on the ground and on his feet, so unfortunately for Jacoby, I don’t see this one ending without Da Un’s hand raised. His odds on DraftKings Sportsbook are currently -125.

The last preliminary fight I’ll preview is the bout between undefeated Bantamweight Jack Shore and budding prospect Ricky Simon. Simon is coming off of the biggest win of his career, knocking out UFC legend Raphael Assuncao in the second round of their December 2021 fight. Shore is a slight favorite according to the sportsbooks, but I feel like Simon will give him his toughest test to date.

Fast forwarding to the main card, the first fight that pops out is the one between Shane Burgos and Charles Jourdain. The last time we saw Burgos was at UFC 268, when he and Billy Quarantillo got into an absolute slobberknocker that followed the possible fight of the year between Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje. Burgos was victorious in that bout but may have some trouble against Jourdain. Jourdain has proven his ability to stand with strikers, but at the end of the day, I feel like the volume of Burgos will be way too much for him to handle.

While the card has other absolute bangers on it, I, unfortunately, can’t spend all day gushing over it–so, it’s onto the main event. Both fighters are coming off of losses, but both looked equally as impressive in defeat as some fighters do in victory. Ortega’s last fight was for the Featherweight belt against Alexander Volkanovski, and for many people, he was a mere second away from winning the fight thanks to a guillotine choke that looked as deep as a choke could possibly look without squeezing someone’s head off. As we all know, Volko somehow managed to sneak out of the choke and went on to win the fight, which is a feat that still has UFC fans scratching their heads. 

Rodriguez’s last fight was back in November 2021, when he went to war against Max Holloway in a five-round brawl. That was Rodriguez’s first fight in two years, but he proved that ring rust is just a myth because he looked incredible. 

Ortega is the slight favorite, sitting at -165. I feel like this fight is a bit too close to pick, but I LOVE some of the props. I feel like this fight will go down to the wire and end in a decision, so I’ll be taking the OVER 4.5 Rounds (+105).

All in all, this weekend’s card might be one of the best of the year, so make sure you place your bets on these New Jersey Online Casinos before it officially kicks off.