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- What: UFC Vegas 97 Main Event
- Who: Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady
- Date: Saturday, September 7, 2024
- Location: UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV
- Time: Prelims (4:00 p.m. ET), Main Card (7:00 p.m. ET)
- How to Watch: ESPN+
After a week off, the UFC returns to Las Vegas this weekend for Saturday’s UFC Vegas 97 fight card from the UFC Apex. In the main event of that contest, former UFC welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns faces the up-and-coming Sean Brady in a scheduled five-round contest in the UFC’s 170-pound division. UFC Vegas 97 is scheduled for September 7. The full card streams on ESPN+. Burns enters the bout as the No. 6 fighter in the promotion’s official welterweight rankings, while Brady checks in at No. 8. Below is some information on the fighters before we discuss the betting breakdown of UFC Vegas 97.
Gilbert Burns (22-7) has been with the UFC since he was a 7-0 fighter in 2014. Burns lost a February 2021 welterweight title fight to then-champion Kamaru Usman by TKO. Since that setback, Burns is 3-3. He is currently riding a two-fight losing skid. His most recent defeat came in March when Jack Della Maddalena knocked him out in the third round.
Brady (16-1) joined the UFC in 2019 after winning and twice defending the Cage Fury FC welterweight title. Brady opened his UFC career with five wins. His first professional loss came in 2022 when Belal Muhammad knocked him out in the second round. He bounced back from that loss with a December 2023 submission win over Kelvin Gastelum.
Before we look at the best bets for Burns vs. Brady on the UFC Vegas 97 card, check out the best UFC betting sites and where you can find our betting pick for the UFC 306 main event.
UFC Vegas 97 main event: Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady betting picks
| Fighters |  |  |  |  |
| Gilbert Burns | +159 | +153 | +150 | +151 |
| Sean Brady | -184 | -177 | -180 | -196 |
Gilbert Burns betting breakdown
The 38-year-old Gilbert Burns has been with the UFC longer than Sean Brady has been a professional MMA fighter. With that, he’s accumulated a lot of mileage and wear and tear on his body. On the positive side, Burns has been fighting the best of the best in the UFC for a long time and has a lot more top-level fighting experience than his younger opponent.
Burns began his UFC career as a lightweight but moved up to 170 pounds in 2019. He’s handled himself well at welterweight, but one could argue that he is small for the weight division, and what gets him by is his incredibly well-rounded skill set, his fight IQ, and his toughness. Once known as strictly a grappler, Burns has added tools to his arsenal over the years to become a threat anywhere a fight takes place.
Burns isn’t a significant threat off his back or in the striking department, but where he excels is on the mat when he is in top control. His route to victory in this bout is getting takedowns and controlling things on the ground. What makes that questionable is Burns’ takedown accuracy and Brady’s takedown defense.
Burns averages 3.29 significant strikes landed per minute with an accuracy of 48 percent. He absorbs 3.42 significant strikes per minute and has a striking defense of 54 percent. His takedown accuracy is 38 percent and he gets 2.24 takedowns per 15 minutes. Burns’ takedown defense is 50 percent.
Sean Brady betting breakdown
Sean Brady is an excellent grappler. While his striking is not nearly up to par with his ground skills, the 31-year-old can handle himself on the feet, but his striking is there to serve his ground game. With that in mind, Brady can sometimes put himself in jeopardy by using ill-advised striking techniques. In this matchup that won’t hurt him too much on the feet, but it could put him at risk of getting taken down and then controlled on the mat by Burns. He needs to avoid those troublesome techniques on Saturday.
Brady also needs to avoid staying on the feet with Burns. His route to victory is to string takedown attempts together and concentrate on getting Burns to the mat, where he can work his top game. Burns is not an enormous threat to submit Brady from the bottom, and Brady’s defensive grappling skills, coupled with his offensive skills from top control, should prevent Burns from surprising Brady with a submission attempt that he cannot escape.
One thing to be aware of is that this is Brady’s first UFC main event but not his first five-round contest.
Brady lands an average of 3.77 significant strikes per minute with an accuracy of 53 percent. His striking defense is 61 percent, and he gets hit, on average, 3.55 times per minute. Brady succeeds on 57 percent of his takedown attempts and hits 3.29 takedowns per 15 minutes of UFC action. His takedown defense stands at 87 percent.
Best Bets: UFC Vegas 97 Main Event: Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady
Gilbert Burns will be the sentimental pick from some in this bout and he does have ways to win the fight, but Brady has more routes to victory and is also at less risk of losing.
The betting pick is for Sean Brady to beat Gilbert Burns by decision.
See below the top offshore sportsbooks where you can wager online and choose the best one for you:
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