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- What: UFC on ESPN+ 84
- Who: Manon Fiorot vs. Rose Namajunas
- Date: Saturday, September 2, 2023
- Location: Accor Arena in Paris, France
- Time: Prelims (12:00 p.m. ET) Main Card (3:00 p.m. ET)
- How to Watch: ESPN+
Saturday’s UFC Paris fight card is another early affair, with the main card of the UFC on ESPN+ 84 event starting at 3 p.m. ET. The headlining scrap features Ciryl Gane vs. Serghei Spivac. The heavyweight contest pits Gane, who is the No. 2 fighter in the official UFC heavyweight rankings, against the No. 7 ranked Spivak. Before that matchup takes place, former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas makes her UFC flyweight debut against the No. 2 ranked fighter in that division, Manon Fiorot. Here is some information on the Fiorot vs. Namajunas scrap before we discuss the betting breakdown for the UFC Paris / UFC on ESPN+ 84 fight card.
Manon Fiorot (10-1) has not lost since she dropped her pro debut to Leah McCourt in 2018. The 33-year-old has UFC victories over former UFC flyweight title challengers Jennifer Maia and Katlyn Chookagian in her past two outings.
Rose Namajunas (11-5) is a two-time UFC strawweight champion. In her past three fights, the 31-year-old Namajunas has two wins over current UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili, but she is coming off a lackluster decision loss to Carla Esparza in May 2022.
Before we look at the best bets for Fiorot vs. Namajunas row on the UFC on ESPN+ 84 card from Paris, check out the best UFC betting sites and our betting picks for the UFC Paris main event between Ciryl Gane and Serghei Spivac.
UFC on ESPN+ 84 co-main event: Manon Fiorot vs. Rose Namajunas betting picks
| To Win UFC on ESPN+ 84 Co-Main Event |  |  |  |  |
| Rose Namajunas | +150 | +160 | +150 | +145 |
| Manon Fiorot | -175 | -195 | -180 | -175 |
UFC on ESPN+ 84 co-main event: Manon Fiorot vs. Rose Namajunas betting breakdown
Manon Fiorot has quickly climbed the UFC flyweight rankings. She made her UFC debut in January 2021 and went 3-0 that year. Then, in 2022, she went 2-0 with wins over former UFC title challengers Maia and Chookagian. Her five-fight UFC winning streak is one of the longest active winning streaks in the 125-pound division, and while fighting an unranked opponent in Rose Namajunas might seem like she is stepping back, Fiorot and her team know that a win over a former two-time UFC champion will open a lot of doors for her.
Fiorot is an excellent striker with a black belt in karate and a brown belt in jiu-jitsu. She employs a high-output style and is one of the most active strikers in the women’s flyweight division, ranking fourth in significant strikes landed per minute and second all-time in striking differential. Perhaps more importantly, her striking defense is first all-time at flyweight, and she has absorbed the 10th fewest strikes per minute in the division. Fiorot struggled with the southpaw stance of Chookagian in the early going of their fight, but she improved as the battle wore on.
There are a lot of questions plaguing Namajunas. Her loss to Esparza was a bad one. She only landed 37 significant strikes in the five-round fight and seemed reluctant to engage. Further, there were questions about why she would move to 125, as she has two wins over the current 115-pound champion. With that, the real question Namajunas is facing is if she has the confidence and drive to perform at a high level in a new weight class. Namajunas said she wanted this fight so that she could face new challenges. She will get that and more against Fiorot.
UFC on ESPN+ 84 co-main event: Manon Fiorot vs. Rose Namajunas statistical breakdown
Namajunas will be the smaller fighter in this matchup. She did not cut a lot of weight to get to 115 pounds, so there is concern about how much strength she will carry up to the 125-pound division, especially against a fighter in Fiorot who is such an active striker. On the plus side, while Namajunas is two inches shorter than Fiorot, both fighters have the same reach.
Fiorot is much more active in her striking, landing 6.58 significant strikes per minute to Namajunas’ 3.66. She is also better defensively than her foe, with a 71 percent striking defense rate as compared to Namajunas’ 60 percent.
With her striking background, there is some thought that Fiorot could struggle on the ground against Namajunas, but getting Fiorot to the mat has been an issue. She has been taken down once in her UFC career and has spent just 10 seconds of her UFC career in bottom position. That, and the weight advantage she will have in this fight make the grappling question a tough one to answer.
Best Bets for UFC on ESPN+ 84 co-main event: Manon Fiorot vs. Rose Namajunas
If one were to make a pros and cons list about betting on Manon Fiorot or Rose Namajunas in the UFC Paris co-main event, Fiorot would come out of that project with more pros than her opponent. That’s even before considering the time off, move up in weight, and most recent performance of Namajunas. Could Namajunas pull off the upset win on Saturday? Yes, and there is some good betting value in wagering on her to do so, especially if one picks her to win via stoppage.
My bet is not on Namajunas. Fiorot will stay unbeaten in Paris. The best bet is to pick Fiorot to win via decision. However, there’s also some value in betting Fiorot to pick up a knockout win late in the fight, but that wager should be small.
Best UFC on ESPN+ 84 Co-main event betting pick Manon Fiorot to beat Rose Namajunas by decision.
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