Parker Porter vs Braxton Smith Prediction, Odds & Best Bet for UFC 288 (Porter Avoids Early Punches in Victory)

Porter vs Smith Fight Info, Date & Time

UFC 288 — Preliminary Card Heavyweight Bout
Parker Porter (13-8-0, 5 KOs) vs. Braxton Smith (5-1-0, 5 KOs)
Date: Saturday, May 6, 2023
Fight Time: This will be on the preliminary card, which begins at 6 p.m. ET.
Venue: Prudential Center — Newark, NJ
Coverage: ESPN+, PPV

Porter vs Smith Odds & Prop Bets

All UFC 288 odds, lines and prop bets are available on FanDuel Sportsbook.
Moneyline:
- Parker Porter: (-192)
- Braxton Smith: (+148)

Method of Victory:
- Porter by KO/TKO: (TBD)
- Porter by Points: (TBD)
- Porter by Submission: (TBD)
- Smith by KO/TKO: (TBD)
- Smith by Points: (TBD)
- Smith by Submission: (TBD)

Porter vs Smith Prediction

Parker Porter enters this fight in need of a bounce-back effort considering he has fallen victim to a submission loss as well as a knockout loss in his last two bouts. Working in his favor is the fact that he has experience fighting on the ground that his opponent does not. That is going to come into play.

Braxton Smith is set to make his UFC debut after racking up five straight first-round knockouts over the past year. He has one of the best right hands in the sport, but he lacks any kind of skillset outside of his powerful punch. That makes him a relatively simple foe to study in advance for a guy like Porter.

As long as Porter can hold his ground and avoid taking a jab to the jaw in the first few minutes, he can outlast Smith in an ugly bout. Porter averages 1.43 takedowns landed per 15 minutes and has four submission wins under his belt in his career. Smith will be ill-prepared when this fight goes to the mat.

Winner: Parker Porter (-192)

Porter vs Smith Best Bet

I touched on it earlier, but it's worth mentioning again. Smith's best path to victory is making Porter pay for an early mistake with a nasty knockout. However, Porter already knows that and should make the necessary adjustments to get this fight past the first round. All the advantages then go to him.

All three of Porters' UFC wins have come by unanimous decision as he has tattered his opponents both along the fence and on the ground. Each one of those bouts featured a moment where it looked like Porter was going to draw a submission, though. I like him to finally break through against Smith.

Bet: Parker Porter by Submission (TBD)

Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. 

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