{"id":760633,"date":"2026-06-26T02:33:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T02:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/760633\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T02:33:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T02:33:45","slug":"ufc-azerbaijan-pfl-san-diego-prime-picks-why-a-j-mckee-could-be-the-weekends-best-mma-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/760633\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC Azerbaijan, PFL San Diego Prime Picks: Why A.J. McKee could be the weekend’s best MMA bet"},"content":{"rendered":"

We at Sherdog remain
\nconstantly active for major events<\/a>, such as the regular
\nin-depth \u201cShillan & Duffy\u201d preview show and the \u201cSheehan Show\u201d for
\nall sorts of related matters including betting. With those official
\nsources for picks handled, we would like to take the edge off here
\nand get a bit lighter with our breakdowns.<\/p>\n

The industry of sports betting is exploding before our very eyes,
\nwith billions of dollars pumping in since legalization stateside.
\nOftentimes, those driving the lines are right on the money with
\ntheir openings, valuations and analyses. Occasionally, they are way
\noff, or otherwise merit some additional conversation. That is where
\nwe come in with this reinvigorated series of Prime Picks, where we
\ndive into the upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship<\/a> show in
\nAzerbaijan and take a brief Professional Fighters League<\/a> stop off on San
\nDiego. Try it out.<\/p>\n

One UFC trend bettors shouldn’t ignore this weekend
\n
\nTypically, when the UFC goes on the road, it fills the billing with
\nlocal athletes to boost ticket sales and otherwise give the home
\ncity or country fans something else to cheer for on fight night.
\nThis year, it has been quite obvious the level of matchmaking
\ngranted to said local athletes against foreign adversaries, and the
\nbetting lines have matched. What will we gain from Abdulrakhman
\nYakhyaev<\/a> at -675 posterize Julius
\nWalker<\/a>? Other than to pad his paycheck and scoop potential
\nbonus money for a stoppage, what does Daniel Donchenko stand to add
\nto his life by facing late replacement and huge underdog Theodor
\nBerggren<\/a> (+385)?<\/p>\n

Sherdog editor Ben Duffy often analyzes fight shows and how he
\nrates them based on what he gleans from the six-plus hour
\nengagement. Did he learn something about the athletes? Did someone
\nshow a new arrow in their quiver, or have them actively diminished
\nin their skills? There many be plenty to gather from individual
\npairings, but when they appear on paper situationally created to
\ngive those brought in advantages for this fight card, it takes away
\nfrom those takeaways. While the city of Baku may be nearly 100 feet
\nbelow sea level, how would we know if an unsuccessful athlete only
\nfailed due to the travel and acclimation conditions?<\/p>\n

When the UFC made its first splash in Azerbaijan last year, it did
\nso with three local competitors in tow, and two of those prevailed.
\nPrevious debut shows in new nations France, Denmark and Uruguay all
\nhad UFC fighters from those respective countries all prevail. The
\nUFC may not need to have a clean sweep of homers getting their hand
\nraised in order to come back to big site fees next year, but it
\ncertainly would help with ticket sales while the costs to attending
\nevents has skyrocketed. It almost seems like an eventuality that
\nwhen the UFC takes to a new market or returns to an underserved
\none, it matches the event accordingly for red meat and thrilling
\nexpected results. Is that right?
\n
\nWhy A.J. McKee offers value against Salamat Isbulaev
\n(+100)
\n
\nIt may come as a bit of a surprise that established Bellator MMA<\/a> crossover talent A.J. McKee<\/a> is
\nnot getting respect from the books. Currently in the midst of his
\nathletic prime coming off of good wins over talent opposition, this
\n
\nPFL San Diego<\/a> headliner is showing the good stuff. We wish
\nMcKee vs. the unbeaten Salamat
\nIsbulaev<\/a> was a five-round engagement, for all the extra
\nknowledge we could have gathered from two potential championship
\nrounds, but that does not take away from the bout itself.<\/p>\n

Top notch
\nfeatherweights headline PFL San Diego: Tune in Saturday, June 27 at
\n7 p.m. ET on ESPN 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are ample questions to be answered about the incoming
\nfeatherweight from Kazakhstan. With 10 wins, all 10 inside the
\ndistance and no pro outing lasting longer than 7:16, what happens
\nwhen brick not hit back? Jesus
\nPinedo<\/a> is an excellent scalp to collect on his mantle, and
\nunquestionably established Isbulaev as one to watch. He is not
\ntaking the easy road to top contender status, as by diving right
\nafter elite opposition he seems to want to get through foes before
\nthe increased pressure of fighting for gold. What happens when
\nMcKee does not go down after Isbulaev\u2019s first full-throated surge
\nof offense, or when he survives the first submission attempt. How
\nwill the Kazakh\u2019s morale fare when he hits \u201cThe Mercenary\u201d with
\neverything he has and McKee does not go down?<\/p>\n

We have seen McKee fully capable of servicing as a frontrunner but
\nalso as someone who can outlast what comes his way. Sometimes,
\nletting a flying Adam Borics<\/a>
\nsoar past with a knee is better than trying to tank it and fire
\nback. Perhaps hitting a quick armbar on Clay
\nCollard<\/a> is thinking smarter and not fighting harder by wading
\ndirectly into the fire. McKee has stood up against more
\nbattle-tested opposition, has substantially greater experience and
\na fully functional gas tank. All of these lean to his favor, which
\nmakes McKee at even money a good get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We at Sherdog remain constantly active for major events, such as the regular in-depth \u201cShillan & Duffy\u201d preview…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[4225,64,63,786,247198,785,44,85],"class_list":["post-760633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-https-www-sherdog-com-news-articles-ufc","tag-mma","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}