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For the first time in over two years, the UFC returns to Europe after a lengthy absence due to COVID restrictions. Naturally, the event will take place in the legendary O2 Arena where so many massive UFC events have taken place.

This card is littered with English fighters competing in their backyard. The hometown crowd will be backing the likes of Tom Aspinall, Arnold Allen, Paddy Pimblett, and Molly McCann just to name a few.

According to BetMGM’s UFC London odds, all of those above English fighters are listed as favorites in their given bouts. We will see if they are able to make good on those odds on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. est.

After opening betting as an underdog, Tom Aspinall has been getting a ton of love from bettors and finds himself as a -130 favorite. Aspinall was always given prized prospect status since his debut in the UFC.

Aspinall profiles to have the power, grappling, and athletic advantages in this fight. The only question is whether his cardio can hold up against Volkov if he can’t get the early finish. Just because we haven’t seen Aspinall late in bouts doesn’t mean he, by default, has bad cardio. Back the more skilled athlete in this main event.

UFC London main event pick: Tom Aspinall ML

On the prelims, the undefeated United Kingdom product, Jack Shore, takes on Timur Valiev. Shore is a very skilled grappler who has landed multiple takedowns in each of his UFC fights per UFCStats.

Valiev is a solid fighter himself but against top competition, I am concerned about his chin holding up over time. He was knocked down twice in a (controversial) win against Raoni Barcelos and was also TKO’d by Trevin Jones. That fight result was overturned by the athletic commissions due to a positive drug test but bettors should not forget things like that. Jack Shore wins this fight more than 50% of the time, solid edge given the odds.