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	- +		- +	- +

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

The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale Picks

June 2nd, 2011admin

The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Venue: The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort
Broadcast: Spike TV

MAIN CARD

• Tony Ferguson vs. Ramsey Nijem (TUF 13 finale)
• Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis
• Kyle Kingsbury vs. Fabio Maldonado
• Chris Cope vs. Chuck O’Neil
• Tim Credeur vs. Ed Herman

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Danny Downes vs. Jeremy Stephens
• Josh Grispi vs. George Roop
• Reuben Duran vs. Francisco Rivera
• Scott Jorgensen vs. Ken Stone
• Justin Edwards vs. Clay Harvison
• Shamar Bailey vs. Ryan McGillivray

After a very exciting episode of semifinal action on TUF13, we have our finalists: Tony Ferguson and Ramsey Nijem, who were without a doubt the best 2 in the competition and should be a fun card to bet on ufc.

Tony Ferguson had by far the best standup in the house, accurate, technical, and with some pop.  Ramsey Nijem was by far the most well rounded, and could finish his opponent in various ways.  For this reason I believe that Ramsey will win.  We never got to see Tony’s ground game, or even takedown defence, but saw many times were he motioned for his opponent to get up when down, thus demonstrating his reluctance to ground and pound.  Ramsey will take him down with his lunge hook, hook, shoot combo and keep him down for good.

We finally get to see Anthony Pettis in action again, and they gave him a tough opponent to go at.  Clay is tough as nails, but lacks the creativity and technicals that Pettis possesses.  Hopefully in his UFC debut, we will get to see another highlight finish, as there is nothing Clay can do to have it go the other way.

Fabio Maldonado had a nice UFC debut after TKO’ing James McSweeny in October.  Kyle Kingsbury won quickly last time out, but before that was just marginal at best.  Fabio by KO in this one as he has a better training camp with the Noguiera brothers.

Chris Cope doesn’t have any offensive game, but he can take a punch and has good takedown defence.  Chuck O’Neil can take a punch as well, but will throwdown, although sloppy.  History has shown that Cope won’t do much to earn points, so look for Chuck to land more shots and win a 3 rounder.

Tim Credeur hasn’t fought in a year and a half, octagon rust for sure.  Ed Herman hasn’t fought well in 2.5 years.  Herman should win, but doesn’t look to be an exciting match.  Not sure why this fight is on the main card, I’m sure viewers would rather see Jeremy Stephens on here.

And very exciting news announced today as Georges St-Pierre will fight Nick Diaz at UFC 137 on Oct 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

TUF 13 Odds

• TUF 13 •
Anthony Pettis vs. Clay Guida	-180 +150	-240 +190	-165 +145	-180 +150	1.45 2.38
George Roop vs. Josh Grispi	+325 -525	+300 -400	+300 -390	+325 -525	3.30 1.23
Ken Stone vs. Scott Jorgensen	+350 -550	+325 -450	+335 -460	+325 -525	3.80 1.20
Ed Herman vs. Tim Credeur	-115 -115	-115 -115	-115 -115	-115 -115	1.81 1.87
Francisco Rivera vs. Reuben Duran	+180 -220	+175 -215	+165 -205	+175 -215	2.40 1.42
Fabio Maldonado vs. Kyle Kingsbury	+160 -200	+150 -180	+155 -205	+155 -185	2.44 1.42
Danny Downes vs. Jeremy Stephens	+260 -340	+250 -325	+240 -300	+275 -350
Tony Ferguson vs. Ramsey Nijem	-110 -120	+100 -130	-105 -125	-115 -115	1.60 1.74
Chris Cope vs. Chuck O’Neil	+145 -175	+150 -180	+145 -175	+145 -175	1.01 1.01
Justin Edwards vs. Clay Harvison	-185 +155	-210 +170	-215 +170	-200 +160
Shamar Baily vs. Ryan McGillivray	-350 +275	-260 +200	-300 +240	-300 +240

UFC 130 Picks

May 23rd, 2011admin

UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Demetrious Johnson vs. Miguel Torres
• Tim Boetsch vs. Kendall Grove

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook.com)

• Bart Palaszewski vs. Gleison Tibau
• Chris Cariaso vs. Michael McDonald
• Renan Barao vs. Cole Escovedo

Unfortunately due to injuries, the original championship main event between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar will no longer be taking place.  But the show must go on, and the event is still a go.  A reminder that once again all of the preliminary card will be televised on either SpikeTV and Facebook.com

Matt Hammill is the type of fighter that gives it all that he has every fight, but in the end results don’t come out good for him.  He is a tough fighter, but not in the championship class that Rampage is in.  Matt is a top wrestler, but doesn’t really use it, he wants to be a banger, and nobody bangs like Quentin.  Though Rampage hasn’t KO’d anybody in a while, he will still come out on top.

Frank Mir vs Roy Nelson is a very intriguing fight.  Both fighters haven’t fought in a while and are eager to get back into the octagon.  Both are tough and will stand and fight.  The difference is that Mir is a BJJ black belt, and Roy can probably eat more punches.  Because of his size, Roy is a tough guy to submit though, and thus eliminating Mir’s advantage.  Look for Nelson to either narrowly eek out a victory, or connect with one of his devastating punches.

Stefan Struve vs Travis Browne should be another good fight and pretty evenly match.  Travis should have won his last fight versus Chiek Kongo, and Struve has won his last 2 via TKO.  Struve had a minor setback in his loss against Roy Nelson, but this guy is really good.  He doesn’t look very menacing when battling his heavyweight opponents, but this tall and lanky skyscraper hits accurately and hits hard.  Struve should continue on with his winning streak and move up the HW ladder.

UFC130 marks the return of Sengoku World Victory Road Middleweight champion Jorge Santiago to the UFC and will meet fan favourite Brian Stann.  Thought Jorge has looked excellent the past few years, it is hard to judge due to it being against mostly inferior opponents.  Stann on the other hand TKO’d Chris Leben, who is one of the hardest fighters to knock out.  With that in mind, I can easily see Stann knocking out Santiago in this fight as well as Jorge has not beat anybody as good as Brian Stann.

If there is one fighter I would never bet early on, it is Thiago Alves.  Depending on how easy/hard, or even if he makes weight, it is representative of which Pitbull will be fighting.  He is awful when his weight cut is tough, and looks unstoppable when he cuts correctly.  Rick Story on the other hand has been a consistant winner.  On a 5 fight win streak including his last victory over up and comer Johnny Hendricks, this will be another major stepping stone for Story.  He is a great all around fighter, great endurance, and should be able to tactifully defeat Alves for 6 victories in a row and consideration for title contention.

UFC 130 ODDS

• Fights •
Matt Hamill vs. Quinton Jackson	+215 -275	+250 -325	+240 -280	+200 -260	1.43 3.15
Rick Story vs. Thiago Alves	+180 -220	+170 -210	+170 -200	+160 -200	2.84 1.51
Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson	-140 +110	-140 +110	-135 +115	-145 +115	1.81 2.14
Brian Stann vs. Jorge Santiago	-135 +115	-135 +105	-135 +115	-130 EV	1.72 2.28
Stefan Struve vs. Travis Browne	+125 -145	+110 -140	+125 -145	EV -130	2.22 1.72
Demetrious Johnson vs. Miguel Torres	-110 -110		-115 -115		2.06 1.63
Tim Boetsch vs. Kendall Grove					1.01 1.01
Renan Barao vs. Cole Escovedo					1.10 1.90
Chris Cariaso vs. Michael McDonald					1.01 1.01

UFC 129 Picks

April 20th, 2011admin

UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Venue: Rogers Centre
Broadcast: Pay-per-view and Spike TV

MAIN CARD

• Champ Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields (for welterweight title)
• Champ Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick (for featherweight title)
• Jason Brilz vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
• Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida
• Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald
• Jake Ellenberger vs. Sean Pierson

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Claude Patrick vs. Daniel Roberts
• Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia
• Jason MacDonald vs. Ryan Jensen
• John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson
• Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin

The MMA world prepares for the biggest UFC event ever, the first UFC fight in Toronto Canada, and quite possibly one of the best cards of all time.  A reminder to those who are going to UFC129 or live in the greater Toronto area, the UFC Fan Expo will also be taking place April 29th and 30th at the Direct Energy Centre.

Anybody that doesn’t give credit to Jake Shields is silly, but anybody that bets against Georges St-Pierre is just plain old gambling.  GSP is perhaps the best all around fighter ever, and it is doubtful that Jake Shields will even get a chance to work his world class jiu jitsu against Georges, his wrestling and takedown defense is simply too good and overpowering.

Bet on Georges St-Pierre ove Jake Shields at 5Dimes -440 or Bet on Jake Shields over Georges St-Pierre at Bodog +300

Randy Couture has stated that his fight at UFC129 vs Lyoto Machida will be his retirement fight whether he wins or loses.  Although we all hope that he wins and retires in style, I can’t really see that happening.  Lyoto had a very narrow and perhaps controversial loss in his last fight, but the only way that he loses this fight is if he lets Randy take him to the ground.  While Couture is a great dirty boxer up close, Lyoto is also great in the clinch, where this fight will most likely spend the most time.

Bet on Lyoto Machida  over Randy Couture at Bodog -325 or Bet on Randy Couture over Lyoto Machida at Sportsbook.com +250

Ben Henderson was the biggest mma hit on youtube earlier this year, unfortunately it was for the wrong reason.  After being matrix kicked, Benson is looking to rebound against local BJJ fighter Mark Bocek.  Though Mark’s BJJ is on a high level, Ben is a rubber man and can get out of any submission hold.  Standup there isn’t much advantage, but Henderson has some devastating leg kicks which will score points.  Look for a close win for Ben Henderson.

Bet on Ben Henderson over Mark Bocek at 5Dimes -130 or Bet on Mark Bocek over Ben Henderson at Bodog +115

In what might be the fight that fans could possibly be more eager to see is Jose Aldo vs Mark Hominick.  The most exciting fighter vs the local boy getting his first title shot in front of the home crowd.  I wish Hominick had another fight under his belt first as Jose Aldo is a huge step up in talent.  Aldo is so dominant and unpredictable, you can’t really train to fight him, you just have to go with it.  Mark is a great fighter, but to go fight in front of 50,000+ fans cheering for you, that might be too much pressure.  Jose might even win this in the first round.

Bet on Jose Aldo over Mark Hominick at 5Dimes -420 or Bet on Mark Hominick over Jose Aldo at Bodog +350

Other UFC 129 Fight Odds from Bodog and Picks

Nate Diaz -110 over Rory Macdonald -120

Jason Brilz -115 over Vladimir Matyushenko -115

Sean Pierson +160 over Jake Ellenberger -200

Kyle Watson +135 over John Makdessi -165

Claude Patrick -160 over Daniel Roberts +130

Ivan Menjivar -135 over Charlie Valencia +105

Yves Jabouin -180 over Pablo Garza +150

Ryan Jensen -140 over Jason Macdonald +110

Bodog Prop Bets

In addition to regular winner picking betting, Bodog also has a whole slew of prop betting action for UFC 129.  This includes the following wagering options for many of the fights:

• Fight will last 2 rounds
• Fight won’t complete 2 rounds
• Fight ends in a Draw
• Fighter wins by a decision
• Fighter wins inside the distance
• Fight completes 1 full round
• Fight wont complete 1 full round
• Fight completes 4 full rounds
• Fight wont complete 4 full rounds

Click above to Bet on UFC 129 on Bodog

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