UFC Vegas 40 will kick off with a women’s strawweight bout on the preliminary card between Ariane “Sorriso” Carnelossi (13-2-0) and. Istela Nunes (6-1-0). We’ll take a look at that fight along with Bruno Silva (20-6-0) vs Andrew Sanchez (12-6-0). The fight will take place Saturday with the prelims beginning at 4 p.m. EST on ESPN/ESPN+.
Rely on Sanchez and Carnelossi
Sanchez’s experience makes him a tempting play
Silva opened as a -125 favorite and now sits at -155 while Sanchez has gone down moving from +110 to +130. Sanchez’s opening line was too tempting considering his UFC experience. Silva may have the credentials on paper but Sanchez has already faced good UFC competition, influencing the public to take a chance on the underdog.
The issue with Sanchez is he does well until he faces better competition. He’s had two small win streaks, but he’s lost to Anthony Smith, Marvin Vettori and most recently Makhmud Muradov. Silva has a bit of a padded record but made his UFC debut after a three-year layoff from MMA and pounded his way to a win.
You might feel Silva is the favorite simply based on his last performance. Silva secured the first-round finish via ground and pound over his opponent with 15 seconds left. Ending rounds in the first round is something Silva has done 11 times in his 26 fights.
You can expect Silva to get the win by decision or on the ground via submission or strikes.
Pick: Bruno Silva -155
Carnelossi has too much power not to finish
Carnelossi’s hands are not to be messed with. She has 13 wins and nine of them are by KO or TKO. She’s only 1-1 in the UFC but she lost to Angela Hill and redeemed herself with a second-round TKO finish over Nia Liang back in April.
Carnelossi opened at -190 and is now -160 if you wish to bet online. There may not be enough value at -160 for you so to the prop department we go.
Carnelossi is supposed to win over Nunes and she’ll want to make a statement. This fight making it to the judges’ scorecards seems unlikely with Carnelossi’s power and recent octagon activity this year.
Nunes is further away from fighting in a cage, let alone the UFC. She’s making her UFC debut after a three-year layoff from MMA.
Nunes and Carnelossi are also relatively even in striking proficiency. You can punch your ticket at the sportsbook. Not only can you expect this fight to not go the distance, expect an early TKO, KO or submission victory by Carnelossi.
Pick: Ariane Carnelossi +240
