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UFC 102 features long-awaited Couture-Nogueira heavyweight title bout

Clem Cartwright — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:41:51 +0000

The latest installment of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) pits Randy Couture (16-9) against Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1) and it will be a battle of aging warriors.

The heavyweight title bout will be a tough one for the punters with Couture and Nogueira both fighting back from losses to reclaim a glory they consider they both deserve

Couture lost his heavyweight title to Brock Lesnar back in UFC 91 while Nogueira lost it to Frank Mir at UFC 92.

But if you ask Nogueira – also known as Minotauro – his loss to Mir was more down to the fact he had a dickey knee.

At the time the Brazilian said he was also nursing a knee injury, which required surgery to repair after the lopsided beating.

But the 109kg, 191cm behemoth has declared himself fit and ready to take down the one known as The Natural – 100kg, 188cm, Couture.

The bout will be a classic wrestling versus jiu jitsu five-rounder.

Couture, at the ripe old age of 46, may be beyond this fight and although he has the experience, the 33-year-old Nogueira also has been around the traps for a while.

betED.com MMA Betting Odds have Couture as a -170 favorite and Nogueira a +140 underdog.

And although many are talking about the fight being won through brute force of punches, the real fight will be won on the deck and this is where Nogueira will quickly show his opponent the door to the Octagon.

Nogueira is well known and respected as a grappler and if he pins Couture, no amount of experience is going to be able to recover from a submission hold.

Unfortunately it appears that Couture’s days are numbered in the UFC, his age will ultimately do what many fighters have failed to do – bring The Natural to submission.

While some would consider Couture as a heart bet, the smart bettor will lay a packet down on Nogueira as a head bet.

B.J. Penn big fave to defend UFC title

Rob_Gerein — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:00:29 +0000

UFC 101: Declaration takes place Saturday at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, with the two best 155-pound fighters in the world clashing in the main event.

Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion B.J. Penn will defend his title against number one contender Kenny Florian in the biggest bout of the 10-fight card.

betED.com has Penn a -240 favorite to successfully defend his crown in MMA Betting Odds, while Florian is a +190 underdog.

In the co-feature, the pound-for-pound king of mixed martial arts, middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva, moves up a weight class to 205 pounds to take on former light heavyweight champ and Ultimate Fighter season one winner Forrest Griffin.

Silva is a huge favorite at -400 while Griffin is +300.

Penn (13-5-1) hasn’t fought in more than six months, his last fight a TKO Stoppage against welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 in January. Penn was challenging for St. Pierre’s title and looking to avenge a prior loss, but instead was unable to come out of his corner after four rounds of domination from St. Pierre.

Since that loss, Penn has changed his training and hired Mark Maronivich, the father of former USC standout quarterback, Todd Maronivich, to be his strength and conditioning coach.

Florian (12-3) contested for the UFC lightweight title once before, losing a decision to Sean Sherk for the vacant title in October of 2006.

But since that loss, Florian has been on a six-fight winning streak, with five of the six fights ending by submission or TKO. His last fight was by Submission (Choke) over Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 last November.

Check out betED.com for a full list of UFC 101 fights and UFC Betting Odds.

UFC 101 starts at 7:30 pm ET Saturday with the main event scheduled for 11:40 pm ET, on Pay Per View.

UFC 100 not short on drama

Jim Backus — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:54:16 +0000

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s two big drawcards of last weekend’s UFC 100, Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre, didn’t disappoint in their respective bouts however they will now be on short leashes for different reasons.

Lesnar’s abysmal treatment of the crowd, a defeated Frank Mir and major sponsors left UFC owner Dana White with a bad taste in his mouth which required a disciplining of the man mountain after the match.

St-Pierre on the other hand sustained a third round groin strain against Brazilian Thiago Alves and will now undergo heavy physiotherapy ahead of his next bout.

But MMA Betting fans who backed St. Pierre were not disappointed.

Welterweight UFC champion St-Pierre (21-2, 8 KOs) was too classy for Alves (16-4, 10 KOs), defeating him in a one-sided bout that went all the way.

Alves, who was promoting his ability to avoid the takedown was dropped to the mat in each round and while standing up, St-Pierre showed little mercy against his cocky opponent.

When St-Pierre pinned his younger opponent to the mat, he took advantage of that as well pulverising him with short sharp draining punches.

Heavyweight Lesnar (4-1, 3 KOs) on the other hand defeated former UFC champion Frank Mir (12-4, 2 KOs) by a second round TKO.

Lesnar, who was trying to avoid his second defeat at the hands of Mir after a first round submission in UFC 81, toyed with Mir in the first round then smacked him about the head in the second. Thirteen short straight punches to the side and back of Mir’s head stopped the fight at 1:48.

With UFC101 fight card on August 8 still yet to be decided, details are scant however it is understood a proposed fight between Brandon Vera and Matt Hamill has been postponed until UFC102.

The lightweight championship bout between BJ Penn and Kenny Florian is expected to go ahead however.

St. Pierre a big fave in UFC 100 bout

Jim Backus — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:00:05 +0000

Canada’s Georges St. Pierre faces his toughest test to date when he defends his welterweight title against Thiago Alves in UFC100 on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu exponent has been installed as -330 favourite in MMA Betting Odds to take down the contender Alves who comes in at a tasty +230 but there are murmurings that a change in the guard may be on its way.

St. Pierre’s 18-2-0 record is impressive so to is the 178 cm fighter’s wraps with UFC founder Dana White claiming he is at the top of the list of pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC.

With just two losses, a punches TKO to Matt Serra in UFC69 in round one and a round one arm bar submission loss to Matt Hughes in UFC50, St. Pierre is a feared fighter however Alves is on a roll with seven consecutive wins including victories over Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes and Chris Lytle.

The most fearsome thing about Alves however is his size, pre-fight he has been known to top 200lb however dropping to welterweight, he can shrink his body down to 170lb.

Which is where some people believe his weakness lies. Pushing his body to drop so many pounds pre match can have a detrimental affect on stamina, exactly what St. Pierre has plenty of.

If the fight gets past round one, Alves could struggle and not even his incredible take down defence will be able to prevent being forced into submission on the canvas.

If Alves can strike early then he might be able to stun St. Pierre with his muay thai striking ability but if it comes to a grapple than the Canadian should prevail.

Our tip here is for Alves in a round one blitzkrieg.

UFC 100 includes heavyweight title bout

Jim Backus — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:21:08 +0000

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will mark a huge milestone on Saturday with UFC 100 and it certainly knows how to celebrate in style with Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir clashing to become the disputed heavyweight champion.

The Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas will heave with excitement as Lesnar (3-1-0) and Mir (12-3-0) pummel each other into submission to end all doubt who is the best of the best.

betED.com has the former WWE wrestler Lesnar a -230 favorite over interim champion Mir at +180 in MMA Betting Odds.

It is no great surprise though.

Since Mir beat Lesnar in UFC81 with a knee bar submission in the first round, UFC fans have been anticipating this rematch as many believe and rightly so, that Lesnar was inexperienced against a seasoned fighter known as the best heavy weight submission fighter who has the ability to pull off the most amazing techniques to force his opponent to tap out.

Lesnar, a hulking 188cm, 121kg frame has since beat Heath Herring by unanimous decision in UFC87 while Randy Couture felt the brutality in UFC91 suffering a TKO in round two.

While many believe that Mir has regained the confidence he lost after a motorcycle accident nearly ended his career prematurely, there are many who doubt that he will get lucky against Lesnar a second time.

Instead, many predict that the former world-class wrestler will be too big and too strong having worked on his submission defence techniques.

Lesnar will need to prove there is some form of brain activity behind that brawn and not try and bull rush Mir, which has become a trademark of his. If the bout gets to the ground then Mir will slip Lesnar into a submission hold that will force a tap out.

If Lesnar keeps the bout up as much as he can then he will simply use those massive meat hooks to beat life out of Mir.

Sanchez heavily favored in TUF-9 main event

Rob_Gerein — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:53:18 +0000

TUF-9 Finale on Saturday features two interesting fights with Nate Diaz heading into his bout with Joe Stevenson as a slight favourite while Diego Sanchez should have it a bit easier over Clay Guida in the main event.

betED.com has Diaz is a -155 favorite against Stevenson (+135) while Sanchez is a -325 fave against Guida (+225) in MMA Betting odds.

The Diaz (10-3) v Stevenson (20-2) bout has the MMA betting public intrigued with plenty of pre-fight banter suggesting Diaz’s pride is dented after a loss to Guida in their last bout.

But what has people really talking is the chance that Stevenson with back-to-back losses against Sanchez and Kenny Florian, faces eviction from the UFC fold if he suffers another loss.

Stevenson, known as a compact and strong fighter who is difficult to finish, will want to get Diaz to the ground early and keep him there to negate Diaz’s massive reach advantage but there is lies a problem for Stevenson – his grappling and finishing has also been questionable.

Diaz, who was on a five win streak before his last loss, has finished seven of his 10 ten wins by submission.

It is without question that Stevenson is the physically stronger of the pair but strength isn’t everything and the veteran will know this.

We like Diaz and his triangle choke in this fight while it is hard to go past Sanchez in the main event of the night.

Sanchez (20-2) was the inaugural winner of the Ultimate Fighter franchise and is desperate for a lightweight title.

Wrestler exponent Guida (25-9) will have to be careful against Sanchez who has dropped to the 155lbs weight division after back-to-back losses at welterweight.

Guida was gifted a split decision win against Diaz in his last bout which many pundits believe was extremely lucky for “The Carpenter” and Sanchez will be well aware that he needs to be on guard if the bout hits the floor.

Machida heavily favored at UFC 98

Rob_Gerein — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:17:12 +0000

UFC 98 may have been plagued by injuries and false starts but the quality of the bouts in Nevada this weekend are going to be top notch, which is great news for UFC betting fans.

UFC 98 was supposed to feature a unification bout between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar, but it was postponed. Then, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson was to fight current champ Rashad Evans (13-0-1). But Jackson pulled out due to a jaw injury and was replaced by Lyoto Machida (14-0).

The MMA betting odds show Evans is at +180 while Machida is at -230, which suggests bookmakers believe Machida’s own hype that Rashad can’t defend his style of fighting over five rounds at Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The Brazilian and the bookies may be getting a bit ahead of themselves, however and should be careful of an MMA exponent who has become a multi-dimensional fighter and is used to being labelled an underdog.

Evans is a quick and hard puncher while Machida has a tendency to trace backwards leaving open an opportunity for Evans to pounce and capitalise on the gaps, which makes him dangerous and worthy of consideration when laying your bet.

In another fight, Matt Serra (+210) and Matt Hughes (-270) may have hated each other in The Ultimate Fighter series but this 170-pound bout is so much more than that.

This fight has been a long time coming but isn’t a grudge match as much as it is a bout to rekindle careers that are heading south.

Hughes (42-7-0) is a warhorse that just doesn’t know when to quit while Serra (9-5) has been plagued by injuries meaning the Brazilian jiu-jitsu exponent hasn’t reached his full potential.

This bout, which was originally slated for UFC 79, offers MMA bettors decent odds and it is hard to see Serra breaking Hughes.

The other winning bout for bettors could be the Yoshiyuki Yoshida (-525) versus Brandon Wolff (+325) bout.

Yoshida (10-3) is the out and out clear favourite in this match up however Wolff (7-3) might score an upset victory because he must win to keep his UFC career alive.

There is nothing more dangerous than a fighter like Wolff, a former Navy Seal, with his back to the wall.

After his TKO loss to Ben Saunders in UFC: Fight for the Troops last year, Wolff may just have the bookies looking over the shoulders.