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UFC Odds: Date with St-Pierre on Line for Winner of Diaz and Condit

Dirty — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:34:04 +0000

One of the most anticipated, yet hardest to put together UFC bouts in recent memory finally gets to the octagon this weekend, as the odds-on favorite Nick Diaz takes on Carlos Condit for the Interim Welterweight Championship.

Head over to Bovada for your UFC 143 odds.

The title is currently held by the injured Georges St-Pierre, who has owned the belt since UFC 83 – and made it known that he’s hoping for a Diaz victory. It’s expected that the winner of Diaz vs Condit will face a healthy St-Pierre to unify the championship.

Diaz and Condit have little to say. They’ll let their fists do the talking inside the octagon. Both have held the WEC’s Welterweight Championship before joining UFC, and both are reaching the pinnacle of their careers.

Their career records are nearly identical. Their fighting styles complement each other. Heck, they even arrived in MMA at nearly the same time. Now, the ultimate prize is on the line and both will risk it all for the chance to be called “champion.”

The UFC 143 main card features four other matches, with Ed Herman squaring off with Clifford Starks, Scott Jorgensen against Renan Pegado, Josh Koscheck and Mike Pierce, and Favricio Werdum meeting Roy Nelson.

Bovada’s oddsmakers have Herman, Pegado and Koscheck as heavy favorites, while Werdum has the advantage over Nelson.

Step Into The Cage.

UFC Betting: Public, Sharps Enamored With Mendes at UFC 142

Dirty — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:37:48 +0000

By Bovada Sportsbook

UFC 142 is heading to Rio de Janeiro and the card is packed with Brazilians for the hometown faithful. UFC betting fans will see as many as 12 Brazilians step into the octagon, which will undoubtedly help local ticket sales.

The card will be headlined by UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, who is fighting back in his home country for the first time since 2007. He’ll take on American Chad Mendes, who would love nothing more than to ruin the Brazilian love fest on Saturday.

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Bovada Sportsbook offers great value on both fighters in the Aldo-Mendes bout for UFC 142, so bet the action now before the betting lines shift.

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“Money” Mendes Attracting the Money

When we opened up the betting lines for the main event at UFC 142, we expected the early plays to come in on Jose “Scarface” Aldo. After all, he’s the champ and he’s going to have the home crowd behind him.

As predicted, that was the case as the public and sharps piled in on December 11^th to move the line up to -265, which is where it’s currently at.

But in the last couple of days, we’ve seen plenty of action coming in on Mendes at +205 and if this continues throughout the week, we could see the first time that we’d be on the Aldo side in one of his fights. Usually, the public and sharps are all over him and his wins tends to cost the sportsbooks money.

Case and point: Aldo is 4-0 as a favorite dating back to his days in WEC. He’s 2-0 in the UFC (both as a favorite). If the odds closed at -265 in his favor, that would be the shortest odds on him since he fought Urijah Faber at WEC 48 when he was a -275 favorite.

Can Mendes Do The Unthinkable?

In betting terms, an upset win for Mendes wouldn’t be crazy. We see 2-to-1 underdogs win on a fairly regular basis in the sports world, so it’s not an unreasonable proposition. But from a theoretical standpoint, this feels like quite the challenge for Mendes.

For starters, he’ll be one of only four non-Brazilians on the main card. He’ll be in hostile territory in Brazil – fighting outside of the United States for the first time – with the crowd squarely against him. Furthermore, this is clearly the biggest fight of his young career and his first headline bout.

On top of that, he’s going up against Aldo, who Sherdog ranks as the fifth-best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He’s on a 13-fight winning streak while Mendes doesn’t even have 13 fights on his resume.

Bettors love the fact that Mendes is the far superior wrestler in this bout and if he can just take Aldo to the ground, he should have the upper hand.

Mendes has been favored in all six of his lined fights (dating back to WEC) and he’s a perfect 6-0 in those contests.

Can Aldo Stay Standing?

We hear this quite a bit with Jose Aldo: if the fight gets to the ground, he could be in trouble. Sure, we saw Mark Hominick take him down to the mat at UFC 129 and give him a bit of a scare even after Aldo won the better part of three rounds, but for the most part, Aldo has been outstanding at preventing opponents from imposing their will.

We heard many of the same strategic plans expected to be employed by Urijah Faber at WEC 48 but Aldo put on a stand up clinic for five rounds and that was that.

Until we see it come to fruition, Aldo is still going to be considered one of the best and odds makers will set the lines accordingly.

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UFC 142 takes place on Saturday night and Bovada Sportsbook has great value on all of the betting lines for the card, so take advantage of the action right now.

UFC 140 Betting: Big Names Headline UFC 140

Dirty — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:19:15 +0000

UFC 140 is going to be a blast as the mixed martial arts product returns to the city of Toronto, Canada for the second time. Canada is a hot bed for any type of fight sports and the UFC is giving the fans exactly what they want: another star-studded UFC card.

UFC betting fans will get to see Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, former Light Heavyweight Champions Lyoto Machida and Tito Ortiz, former Heavyweight Champions Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuira, his twin brother Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and as many as seven Canadian fighters.

Feel the adrenaline with all of the best UFC betting lines at Bodog Sportsbook.

Bones Jones Favored by Odds Makers, Public

For all intents and purposes, Jon “Bones” Jones is undefeated in his MMA career. He does have the one loss to Matt Hamill by technicality, but he was in complete control of that fight and nobody for a second actually counts that as a loss.

What’s even more impressive is the fact that Jones hasn’t even really broken a sweat in his entire MMA career.

Taking a look at his last five fights, he’s never even been close to losing:

He broke Brandon Vera’s face in three places at UFC Live: Vera vs Jones, he destroyed Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko at UFC Live: Jones vs Matyushenko, he choked out the previously undefeated Ryan Bader in the second round at UFC 126, he easily won the Light Heavyweight title from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 and he choked out Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in his first defense of the title at UFC 135.

Now he faces Lyoto Machida in what will be his toughest test to date, but few people are betting that he’s the man to stop him. The odds makers have made Jones a big favorite and the bettors are piling on.

Jones is just a freight train of momentum these days and everyone is hopping onboard.

Mir Squaring Off with Big Nog

It’s a rarity that it happens, but we’ll see both of the Nogueira twins on the same card at UFC 140.

Frank Mir will take on Big Nog, otherwise known as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in a bout with some serious heavyweight implications. Frank Mir is coming off back-to-back wins over Roy Nelson and Mirko Filipovic, and he feels he’ll be in line for a title shot if he wins on Saturday.

As for Big Nog, he’s 2-2 in his last four fights and one of those losses was to Mir at UFC 92. His two wins have come against Randy Couture and Brendan Schaub, so he has some impressing to do.

There’s a score to settle between these two after their first bout. There was bad blood between them as they were the coaches of the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter, and when they squared off at UFC 92, Frank Mir dominated the fight with a second round knockout. It was the first time that Big Nog had ever been stopped in his career.

Two days after the fight, Dana White revealed that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had been battling a staph infection and needed to spend five days in the hospital just weeks before the fight. Needless to say, Big Nog claims he wasn’t 100%.

But Frank Mir doesn’t care for excuses.

Bettors seem to side with Frank Mir as the early action has come in on him to duplicate his result and earn yet another win. Frank Mir is also three years younger and Big Nog has looked an old 35 in his last few fights.

Little Nog Favored vs. Huntington Beach Bad Boy

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will take on Tito Ortiz in another big-name bout at UFC 140.

While Big Nog is an underdog on the MMA betting lines, Little Nog is actually favored over Tito Ortiz on the card.

While both fighters are big brand names, it looks fairly clear that both are in the twilights of their careers. We’ve seen some early action on Tito Ortiz as an underdog and that’s not surprising as he’s a fan favorite. But we’re not sure we agree with it as Tito Ortiz has now lost five of his last seven fights with one draw. Also, this will be his third fight since July, which is quite the busy schedule for him.

As for Antoinio Rogerio Nogueira, he’s dropped two straight to Phil Davis and Ryan Bader. Coincidentally, Bader is the only win for Ortiz in his last seven, so bettors may look to that common opponent to gain some insight into this fight as well.

Little Nog’s UFC wins have come against Jason Brilz and Luiz Cane, which won’t exactly impress anyone. Ortiz may have a slew of losses on his recent resume, but he’s been fighting the best of the best: Chuck Liddell, Rashad Evans (twice), Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin, Matt Hamill and Bader.

With so many stars at UFC 140, it’s sure to be a suspense-filled event.

Get all of the best UFC betting lines at Bodog.

UFC 139 Odds & Betting Preview

Dirty — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:47:15 +0000

By Richard Gardner | Bodog Sportsbook Manager

Saturday night’s UFC 139 card at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., ends a stretch of heaven for mixed martial arts bettors at Bodog’s online sportsbook as it concludes a four-week run of UFC events.

And UFC 139 will have a lot to live up to – at least hype-wise – after last Saturday’s UFC debut on prime-time national television with the Cain Velasquez-Junior dos Santos heavyweight title fight propelling UFC on FOX 1 to be the most-wagered card in MMA history at Bodog (although the quick result left many new MMA fans unsatisfied).

Ironically, the Velasquez-dos Santos bout was supposed to take place at UFC 139, but organization president Dana White wanted to showcase that fight on the debut of the FOX telecast. UFC 139 is now headlined by a light-heavyweight bout between Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, with the winner possibly to be in line for a shot at titleholder Jon Jones.

Both Henderson (28-8) and Rua (20-5) made their names while competing in Pride throughout the last decade but somehow these two haven’t faced off before. Henderson made Pride history as he was at one time the only fighter to have held the Pride middleweight and welterweight belts simultaneously.

This will be Henderson’s first UFC fight since beating Michael Bisping by a second-round knockout at UFC 100 in July 2009. He left the organization at the end of that year after signing a four-fight deal with Strikeforce, which was eventually taken over by the UFC. The 41-year-old Henderson lost to Jake Shields via unanimous decision in his Strikeforce debut but won his final three fights, claiming the light-heavyweight belt in the process, including a very impressive first-round TKO of the favored Fedor Emelianenko back at the end of July.

That was the first time the former heavyweight great Emelianenko had been knocked out.

Henderson has to relinquish his Strikeforce light-heavyweight belt to return to UFC. He was hoping to return with a fight against middleweight king Anderson Silva, but “the Spider” suffered a shoulder injury at UFC 134 and now will fight Chael Sonnen next.

Rua, 29, no doubt would love another shot at Jones after losing his light-heavyweight title to Jones at UFC 128 on a third-round TKO, the first knockout loss of Rua’s career. “Shogun” bounced back from that with a two-minute destruction of Forrest Griffin at UFC 134 in late August.

We have seen a major odds shift on this bout. Henderson opened as the -135 favorite with Rua at +105. But “Shogun” has taken a little more than 60 percent of the action and has become the -125 favorite with Henderson now at -105.

Henderson is 1-1 in his career as the betting underdog at Bodog, while Rua is 2-1 as the favorite. A little more than 41 percent of parlays remain active on this fight.

Also on the card, former WEC champions Urijah Faber (25-5) and Brian Bowles (10-1) face off with the winner expected to get a shot at UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.

Both Faber and Bowles would love another shot at Cruz, who took the 135-pound title in March 2010 from Bowles when Bowles suffered a hand injury during the fight and could not continue after two rounds.

Cruz then beat Faber at UFC 132 on July 2 via unanimous decision in Faber’s last visit to the Octagon. Bowles also fought last on the UFC 132 card, beating Takeya Mizugaki via unanimous decision.

The action on this bout has been the most lopsided of any on the card so far. Faber has taken more than 80 percent of the bets and has moved from -200 to -210.

Bowles has been bumped from +160 to +170. Faber, who gets the public money pretty much every time he fights, is 6-2 as the betting favorite at Bodog, with Bowles 1-0 as the dog.

Finally, 35-year-old former Pride champion Wanderlei Silva, another aged MMA legend, looks to keep his career alive when he faces San Jose’s own Cung Le in his UFC debut.

Originally Vitor Belfort was to fight Le, but he suffered an injury. Silva (33-11-1) appears to be fading from the scene, having lost three of his past four fights and six of eight. At UFC 132 in early June, Silva was knocked out in just 27 seconds by Chris Leben.

Le (7-1) is 39 but will be in his UFC debut after making all eight career fights in Strikeforce.

Le has had success against MMA legends before, breaking Frank Shamrock’s arm in a third-round TKO in March 2008 to win the Strikeforce middleweight title. But Le could be rusty for this one as he hasn’t fought since beating Scott Smith by second-round knockout in late June 2010 to avenge the only loss of his career.

We have yet to post odds on this bout, but Le will open around -145 with Silva at +115.

The best UFC 139 odds and props are at Bodog’s online sportsbook!

Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez

Dirty — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:53:28 +0000

MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada – WBO Welterweight Title

Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao 2/17

Juan Manuel Marquez 21/4

Over Rounds O 10½ (11/10)

Under Rounds U 10½ (2/3)

Manny Pacquiao by KO, TKO, or DQ 5/8

Manny Pacquiao by Decision 9/5

Juan Manuel Marquez by KO, TKO, or DQ 9/1

Juan Manuel Marquez by Decision 18/1

Draw 24/1

Fight goes 1:30 of rnd 10 10/13

Fight won’t go 1:30 round 10 10/11

Fight goes 1:30 of rnd 8 1/2

Fight won’t go 1:30 round 8 7/5

Fight goes 1:30 of rnd 6 1/4

Fight won’t go 1:30 round 6 5/2

Fight goes 1:30 of rnd 4 2/15

Fight won’t go 1:30 round 4 4/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 1 15/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 2 12/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 3 12/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 4 12/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 5 12/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 6 10/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 7 11/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 8 11/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 9 11/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 10 11/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 11 11/1

Manny Pacquiao wins fight in round 12 13/1

Manny Pacquiao by 12 Round Decision 9/5

Draw 24/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 1 90/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 2 70/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 3 70/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 4 60/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 5 60/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 6 50/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 7 50/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 8 50/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 9 60/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 10 70/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 11 80/1

Juan Manuel Marquez wins fight in round 12 80/1

Juan Manuel Marquez by 12 Round Decision 18/1

Either fighter knocked down or out 1/4

No knockdowns or knockouts 5/2

Total Knockdowns in fight

Over 1.5 Knockdowns 1/2

Under 1.5 Knockdowns 7/5

UFC on FOX 1 Prop Bets

Dirty — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:39:01 +0000

UFC on FOX 1 – Honda Center, Anaheim, California

UFC Heavyweight Championship

Cain Velasquez -190

Junior “Cigano” dos Santos +155

Cain Velasquez wins inside distance -120

Cain Velasquez wins by 5 round decision +400

Junior dos Santos wins inside distance +280

Junior dos Santos wins by 5 round decision +800

Draw +5000

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos completes 1 full round -300

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos won’t complete 1 full round +200

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos completes 2 full rounds -120

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos won’t complete 2 full rounds -120

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos completes 3 full rounds +140

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos won’t complete 3 full rounds -200

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos completes 4 full rounds +200

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos won’t complete 4 full rounds -300

UFC 136 Odds & Betting Preview at Bodog

Dirty — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:40:36 +0000

If you are a fan of mixed martial arts, then October could be the best month of the year for you as more than half of the UFC’s seven divisional champs defend their belts this month.
Dominick Cruz started the month a unanimous-decision bantamweight victory on Saturday night over challenger Demetrious Johnson at the UFC Live event in Washington, D.C. But that was a prelude to a great card this Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston for UFC 136, headlined by a third bout between champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard for the lightweight title.
Those two rivals were supposed to fight back on May 28 at UFC 130 but both pulled out due to injury. Edgar (13-1-1) and Maynard (10-0-1) engaged in an early frontrunner for “Fight of the Year” on New Year’s Day, when they fought to a draw at UFC 125. Maynard nearly finished it in the first round with a barrage of power punches and almost earned a referee’s stoppage. But Edgar survived, drew even on the scorecards and retained his 155-pound crown: At the conclusion of the five rounds, two judges were split in their verdict and one scored the contest even, resulting in a split draw (Maynard still believes he won). In their previous matchup, on a UFC Fight Night 13 card in April 2008, Maynard took a unanimous decision.
After suffering that lone defeat, Edgar went on to win five straight bouts, taking the lightweight title from B.J. Penn in April 2010 as a big underdog (about 5-to-1) and defeating Penn in the return bout four months later again as a dog (about 3-to-1).
This bout opened with both fighters at -115, but Edgar is now the -155 favorite at Bodog’s online sportsbook. Approximately 54 percent of the lean is on Edgar, who is 4-1 as the betting favorite. Maynard is 2-0 as a dog. Around 50 percent of live parlays are still active on this fight. This is the first time oddsmakers have sided with Edgar before a championship bout (Maynard was just a slight favorite back at UFC 125).
The featherweight title is also on the line in Houston as champion Jose Aldo (19-1) takes on Kenny Florian (15-5). Florian was one of the top lightweights in the world before dropping to featherweight when the UFC implemented the division at the beginning of the year. Since dropping to lightweight in 2006, Florian is 10-1 in non-title bouts but 0-2 when a belt is on the line. He is the naturally bigger man, even fighting at middleweight on The Ultimate Fighter reality show. But will he have the speed to keep up with Aldo? The Brazilian, who was promoted to UFC featherweight champion after the merger between UFC and WEC, has made three successful defenses of his belt dating to his WEC days.
Bodog opened Aldo at -280 and he is now at -285 with Florian at +225. Aldo is taking almost 90 percent of the action thus far. He is 7-0 as the betting favorite at Bodog, while Florian is 0-1 as a dog.
The other top bout features middleweight contender Chael Sonnen, who came within minutes of defeating champion Anderson Silva last August, returning to action against Brian Stann. Sonnen will make his first appearance in the cage since the California State Athletic Commission voted in April to uphold his suspension. The CSAC believed Sonnen (25-11-1) may have perjured himself during testimony at an appeal hearing in December related to his ban for elevated levels of testosterone following his fight against Silva. Stann (11-3) will be making his third appearance at middleweight. He is undefeated at 185 pounds.
The action on this fight has been pretty even, with Sonnen taking a little more than 51 percent. He opened at -210 but now is at -260. Sonnen is 1-0 as the betting favorite while Stann (+200) is 4-2 as an underdog.

UFC 135 Betting Preview at Bodog

Dirty — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:44:19 +0000

By Richard Gardner
Following a very successful Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz bout in terms of betting action at Bodog – although many fight fans were angered at its controversial ending – mixed martial arts takes back the fight stage this weekend with UFC 135 on Saturday night from the Pepsi Center in Denver. This is the first UFC card in the Mile High City since 1995, although Denver also hosted UFC 1 and UFC 2, respectively.
It’s a strong card all around but certainly headlined by a light-heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and challenger Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Jones defeated Mauricio Rua by third-round TKO in March to claim the title, but suffered torn ligaments in his right hand during the bout. That injury forced Jones to postpone his first title defense against former training partner Rashad Evans.
Evans instead ended up fighting Tito Ortiz (after Phil Davis also had to pull out due to injury) on Aug. 6 at UFC 133 in Philadelphia, winning with a second-round TKO. Evans likely is in line to fight Jones should he win this fight. The only career loss for Jones (13-1) came via disqualification in December 2009 against Matt Hamill. Jones was dominating Hamill until the fight was halted due to illegal elbows.
Jackson (32-8) enters off a unanimous-decision win May 28 over, ironically, Hamill. That win was the second in a row for Jackson, who defeated Lyoto Machida by split decision in November 2010. Jackson is a former light-heavyweight champ, winning the belt in May 2007 with a knockout of Chuck Liddell. He successfully defended it once before losing in a close decision to Forrest Griffin.
The Jones-Jackson fight was taking nearly 50-50 action since we posted it, but that action has now moved more toward Jones. He opened at -500 and was recently moved to -550, with Rampage at +375. Jones is 5-1 at Bodog as the betting favorite, while Jackson is 2-1 as the underdog.
UFC 135 also was to feature a welterweight bout between UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes and one-time lightweight contender Diego Sanchez. But Sanchez injured his hand while sparring. Sanchez was fresh off consecutive "Fight of the Night" performances against Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann.
So now Hughes fights Josh Koscheck (15-5). He has not fought since December 2010, when he lost a unanimous decision to 170-pound champion Georges St. Pierre. During the bout, Koscheck suffered a broken orbital bone. Hughes has been out of the cage since November 2010, when he was knocked out in the first round by B.J. Penn. The former UFC welterweight champion has a professional record of 45-8.
Koscheck, four years Hughes’ junior, is definitely getting the betting love. He has taken more than 75 percent of the action thus far, moving his line from -340 to -450 with Hughes now at +300 after an open of +260. Koscheck is 5-1 at Bodog as the betting favorite, while Hughes is 1-2 as the underdog. This fight has the most active parlays of any on the UFC 135 card.
Perhaps the most interesting betting pattern for UFC 135 is on the Travis Browne-Rob Broughton heavyweight matchup. Browne (11-0-1) is fresh of a "Knockout of the Night" win over Stefan Struve. Broughton (15-5-1 MMA) hasn’t fought since September 2010, when he submitted Vinicius Queiroz at UFC 120 in his UFC debut. Clearly people aren’t having much faith in Broughton as Browne at -350 (opened at -340) has taken literally almost every single wager thus far. It’s very rare to see such one-sided action. For what it’s worth, Broughton (+265) is 2-0 as the betting underdog.

UFC 134 Betting Preview at Bodog

Dirty — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:17:03 +0000

UFC 134 Betting Preview at Bodog

By Richard Gardner

The UFC returns to Brazil for the first time since 1998 on Saturday with Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami headlining the UFC 134 card at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Silva, a Brazilian who many regard as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, looks to defend his middleweight championship belt for an unprecedented ninth straight time against the Japanese contender Okami.

Silva (30-4-0) is on a 14-fight winning streak. That run began after a disqualification loss to Okami in January 2006, when Silva delivered an illegal upkick to the jaw of his opponent. Okami had the opportunity to fight on but decided that he couldn’t. Silva is still angry over that because he believes that Okami could have continued.

“I was a little surprised with his reaction to that [upkick],” Silva said. “Do I think he could have continued? I do think he could have continued. But he had the rules in his favor. I did an illegal kick and he chose that it was better not to continue.”

Most recently, the “Spider” knocked out countryman Vitor Belfort in February at UFC 126 with a front kick that landed flush on Belfort’s jaw and sent him reeling to the canvas.

Since losing a 2009 bout to Chael Sonnen, Okami (26-5-0) has trained with his Sonnen to improve his wrestling technique (Silva’s toughest UFC fight came against Sonnen). And it has appeared to work as “Thunder” has won three straight fights in 2010, knocking out Lucio Linhares before outpointing Mark Munoz and Nate Marquardt to earn his shot at Silva’s title. Many consider Okami to be the best MMA fighter to ever come out of Japan.

The action thus far at Bodog has been heavily on Silva, to the tune of more than 84 percent, including nearly all of the parlay action. We opened the champion at -500 but he is now at -625, with Okami at +425.

Should Silva prevail as expected, we might see one of the most anticipated bouts in UFC history with a rumored Silva vs. welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre bout in the works. The winner of that potential fight would be the undisputed pound-for-pound king. UFC president Dana White said that fight very well could take place this year; St-Pierre won his ninth straight fight by beating Jake Shields via unanimous decision at UFC 129 at the end of April.

But back to Saturday’s card. The other main matchup is also a rematch between Forrest Griffin (18-6-0) and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-5-0). Griffin is currently on a two-fight win streak, with his last victory a unanimous decision over former middleweight champion Rich Franklin at UFC 126. Rua looks to rebound in his home country after a TKO loss to Jon Jones at UFC 128.

When Griffin stepped into the cage with Rua the first time, Griffin was a huge underdog in Rua’s UFC debut in September 2007. But in one of the biggest upsets in MMA history, Griffin, the winner of “Ultimate Fighter 1” snapped on a rear-naked choke, forcing Rua, a former PRIDE champion, to submit in the third round. Rua would undergo knee surgery following the loss and remained sidelined for 16 months.

The action on this bout originally was heavy on Rua, so he moved from the -200 favorite to -250 with a little more than 62 percent of the action on “Shogun.” However, late action has been more balanced, with Griffin now at +195 after opening at +160.

The winner of this fight likely will be right behind No. 1 light-heavyweight contender Rashad Evans for a title shot, with that belt currently held by Jones, who fights Rampage Jackson at UFC 135 next month.

UFC 133 Betting Preview at Bodog

Dirty — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 13:20:54 +0000

UFC 133 Betting Preview at Bodog
By Richard Gardner
It’s a great month for mixed martial arts as the UFC stages two cards in August, starting with this Saturday’s UFC 133 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia – next is UFC 134 at the end of the month in Rio de Janeiro.
The main event on Saturday features a light heavyweight bout between Rashad Evans and former champion Tito Ortiz. It was originally supposed to be Phil Davis against Evans but Davis had to pull out injured. Then reportedly both Ortiz and Lyoto Machida turned down the chance to replace Evans before Ortiz had a change of mind. You have to give him credit as Ortiz will be fighting for the second time in a little more than a month. On July 2 at UFC 132, Ortiz (16-8-1) took a first-round submission win over Ryan Bader, a result that saved the 36-year-old’s job. Leading up to the fight, UFC president Dana White made it clear Ortiz needed a win to continue his UFC career, having dropped four of his last five heading into that bout.
Evans (15-1-1), a former light heavyweight champion himself, hasn’t fought since earning a unanimous decision win over Quinton Jackson in May 2010 at UFC 114. Crowned the No. 1 contender following that fight, Evans was scheduled to face then-champion Mauricio Rua at UFC 128 last March but Rua required knee surgery. He was then set to face current champ Jon Jones, but that fight was scrapped due to an injury to Jones’ thumb.
This bout will be a rematch of a controversial draw between the two at UFC 73 in July 2007. Ortiz was penalized for grabbing the fence in the fight, which ultimately prevented him from taking a decision. Since the judges awarded Ortiz two of the three rounds, the deduction resulted in scores of 28-28 across the board. Thus Ortiz obviously would have won without the deduction.
"Tito’s gonna try and take me down, try some ground and pound. That was his game plan in the first fight, and I’ll think he’ll try that again,” Evans said "I’m that much faster than him, as long I keep moving at all times and use my speed, he’ll be making a mistake stepping into the cage with me. I’m confident no matter where the fight goes. … There’s no doubt in my mind I’ll defeat Tito Ortiz. That I know for sure.”
Evans opened as the -400 favorite at Bodog with Ortiz at +300 and those numbers haven’t changed. Ortiz has taken about 58 percent of the action thus far. Evans is 2-0 in his UFC career as the betting favorite while Ortiz is 1-3 as the betting underdog. When the last bout ended in a draw, the odds closed at Evans -105 and Ortiz at -125.
White has said a victory for Evans means a title shot against the winner of the bout between Jones and Jackson at UFC 135 in late September and even hinted the same could be true for Ortiz.
Saturday’s co-featured bout pits Vitor Belfort against Yoshihiro Akiyama in a middleweight contest. Belfort (19-9) enters the fight coming off of a first-round knockout loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 126 in early February. Prior to that he had won five fights in a row. Akiyama (13-3) is coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in his career and fighting for his UFC survival. He last fought Michael Bisping at UFC 120 last October.
The betting on this bout has been very lopsided. Belfort opened at -275 but is now at -285 because he has taken more than 93 percent of the action. Akiyama moved from +215 to +225. Belfort is 1-0 as the betting favorite while Akiyama is 1-1 as the betting underdog.