For the third straight weekend, the UFC hosts an event from their UFC Apex production facility in Las Vegas. This Saturday marks the first time in promotional history that a non-title women’s flyweight bout has headlined a card when Jessica Eye faces Cynthia Calvillo in the main event.
 
The card also features up-and-coming Canadian prospect Charles Jourdain, who takes on Andre Fili.
 
Unranked favoured over top ranked

Cynthia Calvillo (-112) vs. Jessica Eye (+102)

Calvillo enters a new weight class (flyweight), with a new team (American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose) and a fresh set of circumstances (fight scheduled for five rounds). She also enters as the favourite against former title challenger Eye.
 
Calvillo holds a 5-1-1 in her UFC tenure that spans just over three years in length. She faces Eye, who revitalized her career with the birth of the flyweight division, her more natural weight class. Eye worked her way up to a title shot against current champion Valentina Shevchenko, which ended in Eye getting knocked out in devastating fashion.
 
Why?:
 
After Eye missed weight for her second straight fight, the money started to come in on Calvillo, who has been consistently good throughout her UFC career.
 
While Calvillo is no stranger to missing weight herself, having missed on three occasions when she fought at strawweight, it is expected that flyweight will be a more appropriate weight class for her.
Eye has proven credentials at flyweight with a 4-1 record in the division and a perfect record in non-title flyweight bouts in the UFC, but Calvillo brings new intrigue to the division and has shown a great deal of promise.
 
The Most Significant Line Movement

Tyson Nam (-122) vs. Zarrukh Adashev (+112)

Nam opened as a -245 favourite against his short-notice opponent Adashev following the withdrawal of his original opponent, Ryan Benoit. The line has since dropped to just -122 for Nam.

Why?:

This is a case of downside versus upside. Nam is 36 and is 0-2 since finally getting an opportunity in the UFC. Adashev is fairly raw, coming from a kickboxing background and having competed in both GLORY Kickboxing and Bellator. He sits at 3-1 as a professional mixed martial artist.

With Nam being a mostly striking based fighter, the public money coming in on Adashev is not surprising, given his impressive standup credentials.
 
Adashev missed weight for this bout, so it will be interesting to see if the line moves back the other way on Nam.

Jourdain an underdog again

Andre Fili (-230) vs. Charles Jourdain (+210)

For his third UFC fight, the Canadian Jourdain finds himself in a familiar spot. He enters the cage as an underdog, which he has been for both of his prior UFC bouts. He is 1-1 after losing his debut against Desmond Green, fighting up a weight class at lightweight and winning his featherweight debut against the highly regarded Dooho Choi.

Why?:

Jourdain is not looking for easy challenges. He told reporters at virtual media day that he wants opponents who frighten him, and Fili fits that mold as a 14-fight UFC veteran with an 8-6 record in the promotion.

Back-to-back wins over Choi and Fili would help Jourdain inch closer to being a ranked UFC fighter.

It won’t be easy and that’s why Fili is a sizable favourite. The veteran Fili is a tough out, having only been knocked out once in his career (against top-5 featherweight Yair Rodriguez), but after having varying degrees of success against Green and a win over Choi, both as a sizable underdog, Jourdain cannot be overlooked.

Odds and Ends:
 
- Eye has been an underdog in her last four bouts and has gone 3-1
- Marvin Vettori has never lost as a favourite
- Merab Dvalishvili has landed five or more takedowns in his five UFC bouts, including more than 10 on two occasions.
- This is the third time in five fights that Gina Mazany has been a four-to-one or higher underdog.
- Jordan Espinosa is 0-1 as a favourite in the UFC

Odds courtesy: 5 Dimes