Betting odds and predictions for UFC St. Louis

The UFC heads back to St. Louis, Missouri for the first time since 2018 for a stacked fight night event. Headlining the fight card are two heavy-hitting heavyweight contenders Derrick Lewis and Rodrigo Nascimento.

(Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

The rest of this fight card is littered with exciting fights like the co-main event between St. Louis' own Joaquin Buckley and Uzbekistan's Nursulton Ruziboev. Then there are low-key bangers like Alonzo Menifield vs. Carlos Ulberg, Diego Ferreira vs. Mateusz Rebecki, and Alex Caceres vs. Sean Woodson

With this stacked fight night event on tap this weekend, we take a look at the odds, predictions, and best bets to put money into your pockets. So, let's get down to business!

UFC St. LOUIS FANDUEL ODDS FOR MAY 11

• DERRICK LEWIS (162) VS. RODRIGO NASCIMENTO (+136)
• JOAQUIN BUCKLEY (-132) VS. NURSULTON RUZIBOEV (+112)
• CARLOS ULBERG (-275) VS. ALONZO MENIFIELD (+225)
• MATEUSZ REBECKI (-460) VS. DIEGO FERREIRA (+360)
• SEAN WOODSON (-210) VS. ALEX CACERES (+176)
• ROBELIS DESPAIGNE (-240) VS. WALDO CORTES-ACOSTA (+198)
• VIACHESLAV BORSHCHEV (-136) VS. CHASE HOOPER (+116)
• ESTEBAN RIBOVICS (-164) VS. TERRANCE MCKINNEY (+138)
• TREY WATERS (-164) VS. BILLY GOFF (+138)
• JAKE HADLEY (-132) VS. CHARLES JOHNSON (+112)
• VERONICA HARDY (-134) VS. JJ ALDRICH (+114)

BEST BETS FOR UFC ST. LOUIS

TERRANCE MCKINNEY (+138)

Terrance McKinney is riding a two-fight winning streak in his return fight in the Octagon against Argentina's Esteban Ribovics. McKinney has won each of his last two fights inside the first two minutes leaving him fresh and healthy for this battle against Ribovics.

Ribovics on the other hand is coming off his first win inside the Octagon after suffering his first professional defeat in his UFC debut. He's primarily a boxer who will be looking for the knockout blow when he takes center stage against McKinney this weekend.

McKinney is going to come into this fight like he always does like a bat out of hell right in round one. He's going to want to push the pace and be the aggressor and take it to Ribovics right from the jump. As we've seen in Ribovics' past fights, he does his best work when he's the one leading the dance but has had trouble fighting off of his back foot trying to counter his opponents.

Also, McKinney could make this fight even easier if he mixes in the grappling as that is the biggest weakness of Ribovics' game as we've seen against Loik Radzhabov. As long as McKinney can get the job done and doesn't cardio dump as we've seen from him time and time again he will get the job done and extend his winning streak to three.

CHASE HOOPER (+116)

Chase Hooper comes into this fight with the longest winning streak of his UFC career when he's won his last two fights and he will be looking to extend that winning streak to three when he takes on Team Alpha Male's Viacheslav Borshchev.

Viacheslav Borshchev is now just 1-2-1 over his last four fights and has his back against the wall when he steps into the Octagon against Chase Hooper this weekend. Borshchev is a world-class kickboxer with many accolades in the sport but it hasn't translated all that well in MMA due to the lack of grappling he possesses. He's been taken down a staggering 28 times in his last six fights giving him a whopping 36% takedown defense.

While Hooper certainly isn't the plus athlete like those that he's faced or a great offensive wrestler, he still has the ability to drag this fight to the mat or take Borshchev down in a scramble. Borshchev will need to fight the perfect fight and starch Hooper on the feet because at any point he trips up Hooper who's by far the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner that Borshchev has faced could make him pay.

When it comes down to it, Borhschev will be looking good on the feet early until Hooper gets a hold of him and drags him to the mat sinking in the rear-naked choke and extending his winning streak inside the Octagon.

Derrick Lewis (-162)

Derrick Lewis has now just one win in his last five fights and he most recently dropped a decision to Jailton Almeida in his last fight in Sao Paulo. In that fight, Almeida the high-level Jiu-Jitsu black belt was able to take Lewis down at will and control him for the vast majority of the fight. However, Lewis did well in his submission defense against a fighter who had submitted numerous fighters before him. That submission defense will bode well against another Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Rodrigo Nascimento.

Even though Nascimento is a good grappler in his own right he's far from the athlete that Almeida is. He has had trouble in the past taking down the opposition and while Lewis was taken down numerous times against Almeida, historically Lewis has had impeccable takedown defense as shown in previous fights. It takes a special athlete with high-level offensive grappling to take Lewis down and it remains to be seen that Nascimento can do just that.

Also, Lewis still has the most knockouts in UFC history and will certainly come into play in this matchup if Nascimento does not land the takedown and land it early in this fight. This is a typical Derrick Lewis fight as long as he doesn't get taken down he is live for the knockout and most likely will land the knockout blow at some point in this fight so as long as this fight stays upright it is his fight to lose.