UFC on ESPN: Holm vs. Vieira Betting Preview

We won’t see a UFC event over Memorial Day weekend, so this week’s UFC Fight Night will have to hold over MMA fans for two weeks. This isn’t the strongest card, but there are a handful of very intriguing fights including the headline bout between former UFC Women’s Bantamweight champion Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira. Holm is hoping for one more title shot, while Vieira knows a win here could set up her very first title challenge.

UFC on ESPN: Holm vs. Vieira will take place on Saturday, May 21, 2022, from the UFC APEX Training Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The prelims will be broadcast on ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET, while the main card will start at 7 p.m. ET on the streaming platform.

UFC on ESPN: Holm vs. Vieira Betting Odds at SugarHouse Sportsbook

Holly Holm -250
Ketlen Vieira +190

Holm is one of the best female boxers of all-time. She posted a 33-2-3 record as a professional boxer and held titles at light welterweight, welterweight, and light middleweight before eschewing the ring for the octagon full-time in 2013.

The three-division champion won the Legacy FC Bantamweight Championship before signing with the UFC and then beat her first two opponents to set up a title fight with the great Ronda Rousey. Holm was a heavy underdog by the MMA betting odds with odds of 9-1 and higher to pull off the upset, but she dominated Rousey and knocked her out in the second round to claim the UC Women’s Bantamweight Championship.

There was hope that Holm would be the next UFC star, but she is 4-5 since that shocking win and has lost all four of her title challenges since that point. Holm was submitted by Miesha Tate in the fifth round at UFC 196, and she proceeded to lose to Germaine de Randamie, Cris Cyborg, and Amanda Nunes with belts up for grabs too.

Still, Holm is good enough that she deserves to be a sizeable favorite per the UFC betting lines on Saturday night. Vieira was impressive in her unanimous decision win over Tate, but Tate was only in her second fight back from retirement. Holm is the most difficult opponent that Vieira has faced, and she will find it tough to get the win.

Santiago Ponzinibbio +100
Michel Pereira -124

Although Santiago Ponzinibbio is a more seasoned fighter than Michel Pereira, it’s Pereira who is the pick and should be more of a favorite on the UFC betting sites. Ponzinibbio was 27-3 in November 2018, but he didn’t fight for over two years as a result of a staph infection. He is just 1-2 in his three fights since returning from the infection, and he doesn’t have the same knockout power.

Pereira has won four straight fights since being disqualified in a loss to Diego Sanchez. His wins over Khaos Williams and Andre Fialho were pretty impressive, and he is still young at the age of 28. He is also very balanced as a fighter with 10 wins by knockout, 10 wins by decision, and seven wins by submission.

Eryk Anders +164
Jun Yong Park -215

Former University of Alabama linebacker Eryk Anders was a latecomer to MMA. Anders didn’t give fighting in the Octagon a go until August 2015 when he was 28 years old. He won his first eight fights though, prompting the UFC to take a chance on him because of his background and athleticism.

Anders won his first two fights in the UFC before losing to the legend Lyoto Machida. He proceeded to lose three of his next four fights, and his career has somewhat stalled since that point.

Jun Yong Park is 3-2 since joining the UFC. He lost his last fight though, and he could have lost to Tafon Nchukwi last May. Park won a majority decision only because Nchukwi was deducted points for multiple groin strikes.

This could be a nice opportunity to go with the underdog in Anders. He has a two-inch reach advantage over Park, and his opponent has not been particularly impressive to date in his career with the UFC.