Stephen Thompson is also a good fighter, having only lost once in his 9 fight career, but he hasn’t fought an opponent as well rounded or as dangerous as Robert Whittaker.
Whenever you assess who is going to win a fight, you should always analyse the strengths and weaknesses of both fighters and then assess how their strengths match up against their opponent’s weaknesses. This technique will help you to determine how fights will play out and it is particularly useful when working out who has the best chance of winning a fight, when both guys are so well matched.
Robert Whittaker’s strengths match up very well against Stephen Thompson’s weaknesses and he also has several slight advantages, which I believe will be his key to winning this fight.
The first of these advantages is Whittaker’s age. Younger fighters tend to be tougher, because their bodies have taken a lot less damage over the years. Robert Whittaker is 8 years younger than Stephen Thompson and large age gaps normally spell trouble for the older fighter. In fights where there is an 8 year age gap, the younger fighter will win 71% of the time.
Whittaker’s knockout power is another advantage in this fight, as Whittaker throws punches that put people to sleep. Stephen Thompson’s striking defence is pretty poor, as he absorbs an average of 3 significant strikes per minute. I don’t think Thompson will be able to finish Whittaker and I also don’t believe he can take 3 of Whittaker’s power punches every minute and survive the whole fight without getting knocked out.
Stephen Thompson has been known to try and take a fight to the ground if he is getting beaten in the stand up exchanges, but I can’t see that being an option in this fight because Whittaker has excellent take down defence. In fact, he has some of the best take down defence in the Welterweight division, having defended 89% of all take down attempts. This statistic is even more impressive, when you consider the fact that he has fought a strong grappler in Court McGhee and also faced a lay and pray specialist in Colton Smith.
This will be a close fight, but Robert Whittaker has all the skills necessary to win. The odds on Whittaker to win vary greatly across all the different Sportsbooks, so be sure to place your bets over at [adrotate group=”28″], who currently have the best odds available for this fight.
OUR BET: 10.00 UNITS ON ROBERT WHITTAKER TO WIN AT 2.10 | +110 | 11/10
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BEST ODDS AVAILABLE FOR THIS UFC FIGHT…
The best odds for this fight can be found at [adrotate group=”28″].
