UFC 134 Picks

August 20th, 2011admin

UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami

Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Venue: HSBC Arena
Broadcast: Pay-per-view and Spike TV and Facebook.com

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)

• Champ Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami (for middleweight title)
• Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub
• Edson Barboza vs. Ross Pearson
• Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Spencer Fisher vs. Thiago Tavares
• David Mitchell vs. Paulo Thiago

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)

• Erick Silva vs. Luis Ramos
• Dan Miller vs. Rousimar Palhares
• Felipe Arantes vs. Yuri Alcantara
• Yves Jabouin vs. Ian Loveland
• Raphael Assuncao vs. Johnny Eduard

Some exciting news in the mma/ufc world as the UFC announced a new 7 year deal with FOX.  The outcome being new events premiering on Fox broadcast TV with the first one scheduled for November, and the Ultimate Fighter switching over to Fox from SpikeTV after TUF14, with TUF15 happening sometime around the Spring of 2012.  Overhauls in TUF will make it more “American Idol” like, with fights being LIVE as opposed to taped months before.  Like Idol, fans will also be able to vote in who stays, rather than just tournament style winner moving on.  This weeks UFC 134 event will mark the first time in Brazil and it is a stacked card with many of the best Brazilian fighters in the UFC.

This is a fight that should have happened a long time ago, Yushin Okami against Anderson Silva for the middleweight belt.  Okami has been a contender since the Rich Franklin glory days but has never gotten the title shot do to his “boring style”.  After his new 3 fight winstreak he’s going to battle it out with the 13 fight winstreak for the Spider.  The only other fighter to give Anderson trouble was wrestler Chael Sonnen, and Okami is a very similar fighter.  Though with that being said, he’s not nearly as good of a wrestler and Silva is still pretty damn good on the ground.  There will most likely be a lot of dancing in this fight, but bet on Anderson Silva to win it here.

The rematch between Forrest Griffin and Mauricio Shogun Rua should be a dandy.  Forrest beat a Shogun just returning from injury and not in true Shogun form.  This will not repeat as Shogun will be hungry for revenge and is just too talented to lose to a now average Griffin who is now just barely winning fights.  Bet on Mauricio Shogun to beat Forrest Griffin at UFC 134.

Brendan Schaub is on the rise, and Big Nog is in his way.  While Big Country Roy Nelson won the Ultimate Fighter by knocking out Schaub, many believed that Brendan would actually have the more successful future with the UFC, those believers were right.  Roy is close to being cut and Schaub if he continues at this pace will earn himself a title shot by 2012.   This may be Big Nog’s retirement match, he hasn’t been the same since losing to Frank Mir, as is now coming off of knee surgery.  His boxing once the best is rather slow now, and there’s no longer fear in his ground game.  MMA Betting lock of the week is Schaub over Nigueira.

Though Ross Pearson is a tough fighter, Edson Barboza is a sick fighter.  Previously coming off a fighter of the night matchup with Njokuani, Barboza’s Muay Thai brings excitement whenever he steps in the octagon.  But he is not just a standup guy, he’s also a good jiu-jitsu guy, and will easily handle a one-dimensional boxer in the form of Pearson.  Barboza is another betting lock at UFC 134.

A couple of UFC 134 upsets or underdogs you might want to look out for is the heavily underdogged Dan Miller over Rousimar Palhares, and Yves Jabouin over Ian Loveland.

UFC 134 Fight Odds

• UFC 134 •
Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami	-625 +425	-450 +325	-460 +365	-550 +350	1.21 5.50
Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio Rua	+195 -250	+180 -220	+185 -225	+188 -250	2.94 1.50
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub	+195 -250	+180 -220	+185 -225	+188 -250	2.90 1.45
Edson Barboza vs. Ross Pearson	-311 +269	-280 +220	-280 +240	-333 +240	1.34 3.30
Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov	-210 +170	-225 +185	-220 +180	-225 +175	1.01 1.01
Spencer Fisher vs. Thiago Tavares	+170 -210	+180 -220	+185 -225	+188 -250	ASK 2.20
David Mitchell vs. Paulo Thiago	+325 -450	+325 -425	+325 -400	+333 -500	1.01 1.01
Dan Miller vs. Rousimar Palhares	+245 -315	+220 -280	+245 -290	+250 -350	2.32 ASK
Felipe Arantes vs. Yuri Alcantara	+350 -446	+350 -450	+365 -460	+350 -550	1.67 1.01
Yves Jabouin vs. Ian Loveland	+165 -215	+170 -210	+175 -210	+175 -225	1.45 ASK
Raphael Assuncao vs. Johnny Eduard	-175 +145	-175 +145	-165 +145	-200 +163	1.01 1.01

UFC 133 Picks

August 3rd, 2011admin

UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz II

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Venue: Wells Fargo Center
Broadcast: Pay-per-view, Spike TV and Facebook.com

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)

• Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz
• Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Vitor Belfort
• Brian Ebersole vs. Dennis Hallman
• Constantinos Philippou vs. Jorge Rivera
• Rory MacDonald vs. Mike Pyle

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Alexander Gustafsson vs. Matt Hamill
• Chad Mendes vs. Rani Yahya

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)

• Ivan Menjivar vs. Nick Pace
• Johny Hendricks vs. Mike Pierce
• Mike Brown vs. Nam Phan
• Paul Bradley vs. Rafael “Sapo” Natal

It what feels like forever since a UFC card after so many at the beginning of summer, up comes an event which has been ravaged by injuries.

In a surprise, Tito Ortiz who just fought a month ago at the last event UFC132 will be taking on Rashad Evans.  Last time I incorrectly misjudged Tito, claiming it would be his retirement match, will I make the same mistake twice?  As much as I want Tito to prove me wrong, Rashad is much much too quick for Tito to sneak in a submission.  Evans hasn’t fought in a while but he’s always ready to fight, and will come out quick.  He is such a smart fighter and will do what it takes to win.  Those who bet on Ortiz last time won a boatload of money, but I don’t think lightning strikes twice.

Vitor Belfort losing to a magnificent KO from Anderson Silva was a beauty to watch, but a disappointment for those expecting a close fight.  Yoshiro Akiyama aka Sexyama has been simply disappointing in general when it comes to winning in the UFC.  Even his lone win was controversial.  Vitor should regain his confidence after dispatching the sexy one.

There are probably a few other fights I would have on the main card other than Hallman vs Ebersole, but this should still be an interesting fight.  Hallman has some pretty decent wins under his belt, while Ebersole is entering his second UFC fight after taking care of Chris Lytle in his debut.  Go with experience in this fight even though Hallman is coming off a knee injury.

Jorge Rivera versus Alessio Sakara will never happen.  After the millionth cancellation of that proposed fight, Constantinos Philippou will be fight Rivera.  Jorge lost to Bisping from an illegal knee, so he’s going to come back with a vengeance.  Easy KO win for JR.

Rory MacDonald is back!  The youngster who looked on top of the world after his UFC debut win was sent back to earth with a comeback win from contendor Carlos Condit.  Rory then bounced back with a destruction of Nate Diaz and with all the confidence in the world will be taking on aging veteran Mike Pyle.  This is the mma betting lock of the night, there is no way Rory will lose to Mike.  He is simply too explosive for the old guy to handle.

On the undercard, Nam Phan as an underdog over Mike Brown is a great pick.  Brown is on a horrid losing streak and hasn’t looked good at all.  He was contemplating retirement and maybe this will force him into it.

Also to note, a few options and bonuses on our partnered online mma betting sites.  5Dimes will have live betting available for UFC 133.  5Dimes is currently the only online sportsbook that offers mma live betting.  You will be able to make bets live round after round as the fight progresses.  Some added fun while watching this event.  Also from now until August 15, BetOnline will be handing out a nice extra deposit bonus.  Deposit $300 and get $400in your account. Quite simple for every $300 deposit you will get $400 in your account and that includes the $100 in free play we give to you, as well as 100% casino bonus on your deposit and an entry.

Both 5Dimes and BetOnline are open to all sportsbetters include those from the U.S.

UFC 133 Fight Odds

• UFC 133 •
Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz	-400 +300	-450 +325	-440 +350	-500 +300	1.27 4.40
Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama	-370 +280	-300 +240	-300 +250	-325 +250	1.35 3.55
Johny Hendricks vs. Mike Pierce	-140 +110	-120 -110	-125 +105	-140 +110	1.87 2.02
Chad Mendes vs. Rani Yahya	-800 +500	-600 +400	-600 +450	-600 +400	1.17 5.30
Mike Pyle vs. Rory Macdonald	+215 -275	+220 -280	+240 -280	+215 -275	3.30 1.37
Brian Ebersole vs. Dennis Hallman	-115 -115	-120 -110	+105 -125	-120 -110	2.02 1.86
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Matt Hamill	-170 +140	-185 +155	-190 +165	-165 +135	1.58 2.60
Ivan Menjivar vs. Nick Pace	-225 +175	-220 +180	-220 +180	-200 +160	1.38 2.70
Mike Brown vs. Nam Phan	-225 +175	-220 +180	-230 +190	-210 +170	1.44 2.50
Paul Bradley vs. Rafael Natal	-125 -105	- +	-110 -110	-125 -105	1.00 1.00
Costantinos Philippou vs. Jorge Rivera	+150 -180	+120 -150	+120 -140	+155 -185	2.30 1.66

UFC 132 Picks

June 28th, 2011admin

UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber II

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena
Broadcast: Pay-per-view and Spike TV and Facebook

MAIN CARD

• Champ Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber (for bantamweight title)
• Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben
• Ryan Bader vs. Tito Ortiz
• Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim
• Dennis Siver vs. Matt Wiman

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Melvin Guillard vs. Shane Roller
• Rafael dos Anjos vs. George Sotiropoulos

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)

• Brian Bowles vs. Takeya Mizugaki
• Aaron Simpson vs. Brad Tavares
• Anthony Njokuani vs. Andre Winner
• Jeff Hougland vs. Donny Walker

While the mma world is still talking about the whole Nate Marquardt fiasco, there is actually another mma event taking place this weekend!  Though it seems like the more interesting wager is to Bet on What did Nate Marquardt do? Turns it was a failed Hormone replacement test in which he failed weeks in advance, and he gave indications to both the commission and Dana White that everything would be ok by the time UFC on Versus 4 took place.  Sorry Nate, Fail.

The main event is a rematch 4 years in the making when both Urijah Faber and Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz were still very green.  Cruz has since gone on and win every single fight presented to him.   This will be a very hard fight to bet on, both are very similar in talent.  One thing you should definitely bet on is fight distance, as this fight will surely go 5 rounds.  Both fighters have gone full distance more often than not in the past few years.  Though Urijah has looked good in his 2 fights in this division, I would still give Dominick the edge in the debut Bantamweight championship fight in the UFC.

Wow Wanderlei Silva versus Chris Leben, don’t blink has these two will be throwing down.  Silva looks to be fully committed at the middleweight level now and showed it with a nice win over Bisping.  Leben lost his last fight badly to Brian Stann.  Though he will be looking to rebound, it wont be enough, he hasn’t faced another banger quite like Wandy in a long time.

Ryan Bader vs Tito Ortiz is looking more like Tito’s retirement match, at least it should be.  Tito is too stubborn to acknowledge that he has lost his edge, but has the heart to go out fighting.  Bader is the wrestler that Tito once was, and will get back to winning ways easily here.

Another very close fight on this card will be the matchup of Carlos Condit and Dong Hyun Kim.   After losing his UFC debut to Martin Kampmann, Carlos Condit has looked unstoppable beating a very tough trio in Jake Ellenberger, Rory MacDonald, and Dan Hardy, convincingly.  Dong Hyun Kim on the other hand is still unbeaten in his mma career at 14-0-1, most recently topping Nate Diaz.  Though Kim is good, he just doesn’t seem to have to X factor or even the ability to finish as Condit does.  If Kim does pull off the win, it will be by decision, but I can see Carlos getting very close to a title shot with his win here.

Both Matt Wiman and Dennis Siver are on 3 fight win streaks with one of them about to end on July 2.  Siver’s wins have been more impressive though, especially the last fight beating the previous perfect George Sotiropoulos, and looked very good in the win.  Now it’s time for these 2 to stop being gatekeepers and push to the next level, I believe it will be Siver victorious here.  His combination of striking and submissions is crazy.

UFC 132 Fight Odds

• UFC 132 •
Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber	-150 +120	-150 +120	-140 +120	-150 +120	1.75 2.30
Melvin Guillard vs. Shane Roller	-275 +215	-280 +220	-270 +230	-280 +210	1.32 3.10
Ryan Bader vs. Tito Ortiz	-500 +300	-550 +375	-500 +400	-500 +300	1.24 5.00
Dennis Siver vs. Matt Wiman	-135 +105	-130 +100	-125 +105	-130 EV	1.83 2.16
Chris Leben vs. Wanderlei Silva	+155 -185	+155 -185	+155 -175	+155 -185	2.50 1.65
Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim	-125 -105		-105 -115	-125 -105	2.02 1.94
Andre Winner vs. Anthony Njokuani	+ -		+ -	+ -	1.90 1.01
Brian Bowles vs. Takeya Mizugaki	- +	+ -	- +	- +	1.01 1.01
George Sotiropoulos vs. Rafael Dos Anjos	- +		- +	- +	1.40 2.40
Aaron Simpson vs. Brad Tavares	- +	- +	- +	- +	1.01 2.40
Donny Walker vs. Jeff Hougland	- +		- +	- +

Strikeforce Overeem vs Werdum picks

June 18th, 2011admin

Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum

Location: Dallas, Texas
Venue: American Airlines Center
Broadcast: Showtime (main card) and HDNet (preliminaries)

MAIN CARD (Showtime)

• Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum (heavyweight grand-prix opening round)
• Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers (heavyweight grand-prix opening round)
• Daniel Cormier vs. Jeff Monson
• Chad Griggs vs. Valentijn Overeem
• Jorge Masvidal vs. K.J. Noons

PRELIMINARY CARD (HDNet)

• Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante vs. Justin Wilcox
• Magno Almeida vs. Conor Heun
• Nah-Shon Burrell vs. Joe Ray
• Mike Bronzoulis vs. Todd Moore
• Brian Melancon vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg

The 2nd round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight grand-prix takes place this saturday featuring 4 either past or current champions or number one contenders.  This is the first tournament event since the UFC purchase of Strikeforce so it should be interesting to see what the outcome of the tournament will become.  Will the Grand Prix winner then get a shot at the UFC heavyweight title?  Originally on this card was also the return of Gina Carano, who was pulled from the card with only a couple weeks to go from doctors orders.

Alistair Overeem has looked unstoppable for the past few years.  This massive heavyweight has been finishing his opponents at ease and Fabricio Werdum looks to be next in line to take some punishment.  It is very hard for me to see how Werdum will be able to beet Overeem, there is so much power difference.  Werdum had a nice win over a regressing Fedor, but Overeem is on the rise and doesn’t look like he will be stopped by any of the current Strikeforce challengers.

Brett Rogers looked very promising at one time, but after his last bout where he barely won in a W-1 match versus Ruben Villareal, he doesn’t look like a contendor anymore.  Josh Barnett is one fighter who I feel should not even be in MMA anymore.  The guy with numerous “steroid” infractions somehow still has a job while tainting the sport.  You should never let your emotions decide on who to bet on, so I will listen to that advice and bet on Josh Barnett to win even though I wish he would never win another fight again.  There is still good odds for an upset though at +300 odds, since Josh has not fought in about a year.

Daniel Cormier versus Jeff Monson should be a fight taking place on the matt for about 14 mins.  The former champion of the King of the Cage Daniel Cormier should come out on top over the aging Jeff Monson who is now over 40.

Chad Griggs is a banger and should be in a slugfest versus the older brother of Alistair, Valentijn Overeem.  I believe that Griggs is the better outright striker and if they stay standing, will get the nod.  Overeems do have nasty guillotines and other chokes though so it would be wise for Chad to keep the head up.

Jorge Masvidal against KJ Noons should be a good fight.  KJ is a great boxer and Jorge can take a punch.  If KJ would have concentrated on just MMA he could have been a great champion rather than giving it a go as a boxer.  Not sure why this fight was originally on the preliminary card, this will be a battle.  KJ has more experience though, and a better technical game.  He should come out as a decision winner on this fight.

Strikeforce Fight Odds

• Strikeforce •
Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum	-500 +300	-350 +275	-320 +290	-325 +250	1.28 4.20
Brett Rogers vs. Josh Barnett	+300 -500	+280 -355	+295 -325	+300 -500	3.60 1.33
Jorge Masvidal vs. KJ Noons	+135 -165	+135 -165	+134 -144	+125 -155	2.36 1.66
Brian Melancon vs. Isaac Vallie-Flag	-135 +105		-130 +110	-135 +105
Conor Heun vs. Magno Almeida	EV -130		+110 -130	EV -130
Mike Bronzoulis vs. Todd Moore	-365 +285		-310 +255	-300 +240
Daniel Cormier vs. Jeff Monson	-550 +350	-500 +350	-475 +420	-500 +300
Justin Wilcox vs. JZ Cavalcante	-115 -115		-105 -115	-115 -115
Chad Griggs vs. Valentijn Overeem	-135 +105	-145 +115	-125 +115	-135 +105
Joe Ray vs. Nah Shon Burrell	-500 +300		-330 +270	-325 +250

UFC 131 Picks

June 2nd, 2011admin

UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Venue: Rogers Arena
Broadcast: Pay-per-view and Spike TV

MAIN CARD (PPV)

• Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin
• Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes
• Jon Olav Einemo vs. Dave Herman
• Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz
• Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Yves Edwards vs. Sam Stout
• Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Chris Weidman

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Igor Pokrajac vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
• James Head vs. Nick Ring
• Dustin Poirier vs. Jason Young
• Joey Beltran vs. Aaron Rosa
• Darren Elkins vs. Michihiro Omigawa

After a very successful debut in Vancouver last fall, the UFC has returned to the lovely province of BC.  Unfortunately Brock Lesnar who was supposed to fight in the main event versus his Ultimate Fighter 13 opposite coach Junion Dos Santos, suffered a second case of diverticulitis and will be out indefinitely.  Jumping in for Brock is fellow contender Shane Carwin, in what will end up being a hard hitting matchup.

Brock’s injury might have been a blessing in disguise, as fans will be treated in what could be one of the top heavyweight slugfests of all time.  This fight will be hard to choose a winner, JDS is an amazing striker, and nobody in the UFC hits harder than Carwin.  Carwin lost to Brock due to his inexperience of lasting more than 2 mins in a fight, hopefully those troubles will be gone as he will need to fight long and hard.  Junior is a more technically gifted striker, but it is very hard to go against the raw power of Shane.  Will have to go with Beauty over the Beast though in this one.  Junior Dos Santos for the win, but surprisingly it will not be via a KO.

Kenny Florian makes his featherweight debut against Diego Nunes, a guy coming in on a 3 fight win streak against quality opponents.  This will be a very tough initial fight for K-Flo, but he should come out victorious.  Both a Muay Thai guys, but Florian has fought much tougher and stronger guys, and should be able to muscle Nunes in the clench.

Dave PeeWee Herman finally makes his UFC debut after fighting everywhere but the big show.  His opponent is a relative unknown and nothing  that shows that PeeWee will lose to Einemo.

Wow Mark Munoz’s stock has risen a lot lately, as he is now a favourite on most bookmakers versus Demian Maia.  Maia has still not shown much other than his world class jiu jitsu, and one strength that often negates BJJ is a strong wrestling background, in which Mark has.  Along with his vicious ground and pound, Mark should be able to put Demian to sleep.  TKO due to strikes as a result of GnP.

Donald Cowboy Cerrone for on this card is given an easier fight in the form of newcomer Vagner Rocha due to the last minute injury to Mac Danzig.   Cowboy has nothing but Fight of the Nights, so he is always a pleasure to watch fight.  No reason not to bet on cowboy here.  For those outside of the United States, check out Betfair as they currently have this fight at even odds!

Unrelated, initial odds are out for the UFC 137 fight between Georges St-Pierre vs Nick Diaz.  If you believe Nick will win, this is the time to lock in the bets early.  Early lines have him at a +300 underdog which is way too good odds not to take him.

UFC 131 Fight Odds

• UFC 131 •
Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin	-175 +145	-185 +155	-175 +155	-185 +155	1.62 2.56
Dave Herman vs. Jon Olav Einemo	-250 +190	-250 +200	-230 +190	-225 +185	1.38 2.76
Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz	EV -130	+105 -135	-105 -115	-115 -115	2.04 1.87
Diego Nunes vs. Kenny Florian	+205 -265	+220 -280	+240 -280	+200 -260	3.30 1.33
Aaron Rosa vs. Joey Beltran	-175 +145		-195 +160	-165 +135	1.51 2.28
Igor Pokrajac vs. Krzysztof Soszynski	+175 -215		+180 -240	+175 -215	3.00 1.33
Dustin Poirier vs. Jason Young	-360 +280	+265 -340	-325 +250	-340 +260	1.33 3.05
Chris Weidman vs. Jesse Bongfeldt	-300 +240		-300 +240	-300 +220	1.33 3.35
Sam Stout vs. Yves Edwards	-135 +105	-160 +130	-160 +130	-140 +110	1.54 2.10
Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha	-500 +300		-370 +280	-500 +300	1.30 3.33