Maki Pitolo vs. Charles Byrd
Saturday, June 6, 2020 at 10:00 PM
The Line: Charles Byrd -180 / Maki Pitolo +150 Click Here for the Latest Odds
Charles Byrd and Maki Pitolo face off in a middleweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. There will be no fans in attendance for this fight.These are two fighters who are currently unranked but they hope a win will move them closer to be ranked.
Charles “Kid Dynamite” Byrd could need a win in this fight or he could see his time in the UFC be done. Overall Byrd has a 10-6 record, but since coming into the UFC he has gone 1-2. After Byrd won his first fight over John Phillips back in 2018, Byrd has lost back to back fights. Byrd’s last fight came against Edmen Shahbazyan in March of 2019, and it was ugly. He was outstruck 13-1 and 38 seconds in he was knocked out.
Byrd is averaging 3.86 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 2.10 significant strikes per minute. Byrd loves to get the fight to the ground averaging 2.52 successful takedowns per 15 minutes, and he also averages 1.9 submission attempts per 15 minutes.
Maki “Coconut Bombz” Pitolo comes into this fight with a 12-5 record but he did lose his first fight in the UFC. Pitolo’s first fight in the UFC came against Callan Potter and he wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t great. Pitolo actually outstruck Potter in that fight, but he was taken down three times in that fight and that led to the loss. He made it go three rounds, but he lost by a unanimous decision.
To get to the UFC fight he an impressive win in Dana White’s contender series, with a first round stoppage over Justin Sumter. This is an important fight because the last thing he wants to do is start off 0-2 in the UFC.
These are both fighters coming off a loss, but Byrd is a better wrestler which is going to be the difference in this fight. I don’t think this fight is going to finish before the final bell, but Byrd isn’t going to have much issue winning. Back Byrd to win this game on the money line.