UFC 248 best bets: Is Jedrzejczyk a live underdog?

UFC 248 will take place Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event will feature two title fights, including the middleweight headliner between champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Yoel Romero.

Here are three of the best bets for UFC 248.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk (+140) vs. Zhang Weili

Jedrzejczyk is more experienced and proven than Zhang, so I'm siding with her to win back the UFC strawweight title this weekend.

This is a very close contest on paper. In fact, I consider it pretty much a coin flip. But when that's the case, and when the oddsmakers disagree with you, the logical thing is to put money on the underdog.

Even though Zhang is already a UFC champion, we really don't know how good she is - or how good she can be down the road. She absolutely has a path to victory here, but I'm hesitant to back her against Jedrzejczyk, a former champ who defended the belt five times from 2015-17.

Zhang has only fought four times in the UFC, and her 42-second title win over Jessica Andrade didn't tell me a whole lot, other than she's ferocious. Her performance was very impressive, but facing Jedrzejczyk, who seems more likely to last five rounds, will be a much different challenge.

Jedrzejczyk is still an elite talent at 115 pounds. The Pole is one of the best strikers in women's MMA, and I expect she'll be able to pick Zhang apart, as she's the more technical fighter of the two. If she can find her range early in the bout and score from the outside, Jedrzejczyk will have a lot of success.

It's quite possible "Magnum" could be the next dominant champion in the division, but until I see more, I'll pick someone of Jedrzejczyk's caliber to beat her.

Li Jingliang (-175) vs. Neil Magny

Li has always been an action fighter, but the chances of him becoming a legitimate contender seemed slim - that is, until he devastated Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos last summer. The third-round TKO was by far the biggest and most impressive win of his career.

"The Leech" has now won three fights in a row, and I expect that momentum will carry him to victory over Magny.

Magny used to be a top contender. He put together an insane run from 2014-16, during which he won 10 of 11 fights. But he's stumbled in recent years, dropping three of his past six outings. The Elevation Fight Team product also hasn't competed since a November 2018 loss to Santiago Ponzinibbio.

Stylistically, I'm confident that this matchup favors Li. The Chinese fighter constantly pressures his opponents, and that's something Magny struggles to deal with. I see Li walking Magny down and attacking him with a significant amount of punches en route to a unanimous decision win, or possibly a late finish.

Gerald Meerschaert (+120) vs. Deron Winn

Meerschaert appears to have a good shot here, so at plus-money, I like a small bet on him.

The Roufusport fighter is 6-1 and Winn is 5-6. Meerschaert also has a 6.5-inch reach advantage. Winn, a former collegiate All-American wrestler, might be the more talented fighter of the two, but Meerschaert will benefit from his significant size advantage.

Winn is strong for the division and seems to have some potential, but I ultimately don't think he'll enjoy a lot of success in the UFC because of how poorly his frame sizes up against fellow middleweights. He struggled in his last fight, dropping a split decision to Darren Stewart, and barely beat Eric Spicely in his UFC debut.

Additionally, Meerschaert's resume includes 42 pro fights, while Winn has just seven to his name. That extra experience is another factor that should give Meerschaert the edge.

In this bout, Meerschaert will use his jab to keep Winn at bay and then tee off on his opponent. Winn will press the action but struggle to get inside to land strikes and take Meerschaert down. And even if he does get the fight to the mat, "GM3" is no slouch in that department and will either hunt for a submission of his own or get back to his feet.

Count on Meerschaert to use his size to outpoint Winn en route to a decision victory.