Joanna Jedrzejczyk has drawn her share of critics because of her recent struggles to make weight and a downward career stretch in which she has lost three of her last four fights. The former strawweight champion is determined to silence them, and she gets a chance on Saturday when she takes on the surging Michelle Waterson in the main event of UFC Fight Night 161. The 13-bout UFC stop from Amalie Arena features the main UFC Fight Night 161 card starting at 8 p.m. ET. Jedrzejczyk (15-3) is ranked No. 5 and could get back in the title picture with a win over Waterson (17-6), but the seventh-ranked Waterson could do the same if she pulls the upset. Jedrzejczyk is a -380 favorite (risk $380 to win $100), while is +315 in the latest Jedrzejczyk vs. Waterson odds. In the co-main event, Kron Gracie (-175) meets Cub Swanson (+155) in a featherweight battle. Before making your UFC Fight Night 161 picks, make sure you listen to what SportsLine MMA expert Kyle Marley has to say.
Marley won the first-ever "ToutMaster" UFC betting contest sponsored by MMAOddsBreaker and is in contention to win this year's contest. He also appears regularly on multiple MMA betting and DFS shows. Over the past year, $100 bettors who have followed Marley's picks are up nearly $21,000.
Just last week at UFC 243, Marley told SportsLine members that Israel Adesanya (-115) would defeat Robert Whittaker (-105) in their middleweight unification bout. He reasoned that Adesanya's range and quickness would be too much for the sitting champion, and that's exactly what happened as the top-ranked challenger landed a lightning-quick flurry to score a second-round knockout. Anyone who followed his advice booked an easy winner, and those who have followed consistently are way up.
Now, with UFC Fight Night 161 fast approaching, Marley has carefully studied every matchup on the card, identified the best value in the UFC odds and released his MMA picks for every single fight. He's sharing those selections only over at SportsLine.
Marley knows that the 32-year-old Jedrzejczyk hopes to re-enter the title picture following a difficult recent stretch. She was once on the short list of the UFC's top all-time female fighters after winning the title in March 2015 and successfully defending it five times in building a 14-0 record. But she lost the title to Rose Namajunas in November 2017 and also dropped the rematch five months later. She has split her last two bouts and is coming off a decision loss to Valentina Shevchenko in December 2018.
Jedrzejczyk is bound to face a tough challenge from the 33-year-old Waterson, who appears to be improving with every performance. The Colorado native was seen as a rising prospect before suffering back-to-back losses in 2017. Waterson has responded with three consecutive victories and dominated the action in a unanimous-decision victory over former title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz in March. You can get Marley's coveted Waterson vs. Jedrzejczyk picks at SportsLine.
We'll share one of Marley's UFC Fight Night 161 predictions here: He is backing Max Griffin (-145) to get his hand raised Alex Morono (+125) in a welterweight bout on the preliminary card.
Griffin (15-6) has lost two of his past three bouts, but is coming off a decision victory against Zelim Imadaev in April. His opponent, Morono (16-5), seeks his third consecutive victory after he notched a submission win over Zak Ottow in March.
"Griffin lands the harder shots and is more likely to land takedowns, which could steal close rounds. This fight goes to the scorecards, and I like Griffin to get his hand raised," Marley told SportsLine. You can mark Griffin over Morono as one of your top UFC Fight Night picks on Saturday.
Marley also has strong picks for Jedrzejczyk vs. Waterson, Gracie vs. Swanson and every other bout on the UFC Fight Night card. You can only see his picks at SportsLine.
Who wins Jedrzejczyk vs. Waterson? And how exactly does each fight end? Visit SportsLine now to get detailed picks on every fight at UFC Fight Night 161, all from the incomparable expert who's up nearly $21,000 on MMA picks in the past year, and find out.
