posted December 10, 2008 at 18:45 EST in UFC / MMA Betting Trends
UFC Sports Betting Odds - "Fight for the Troops" Undercard Wagering
by Charles Jay
The UFC has a great presentation for Wednesday night. It's called "Fight for the Troops" and fans will be able to tune in to it at 9 PM ET on Spike TV, and the proceeds are going to something called the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which benefits Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who were disabled. By the way, in case you were in the area and wanted to check out the fight live, forget it - only members of the military base at Fort Bragg will be able to attend the event at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C..
It'll be Josh Koscheck and Yoshiyiuki Yoshida hooking up in the welterweight main event. But there is a lot of stuff on the undercard let's take a quick look, with the BetUS sports betting online UFC odds accompanying everything.
Light Heavyweights
STEVE CANTWELL -350
RAZAK AL-HASSAN +250
Hey, what's a light heavyweight to do when there's no more light heavyweight division. That was the dilemma Cantwell, who just celebrated his 22nd birthday, faced when the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) eliminated the weight class, in which he won the title on August 3 with a TKO of Brian Stann. The solution, I guess, is simple - just go over to the UFC, which owns the WEC anyway. Cantwell, who avenged his only career loss with that TKO of Stann, is someone who could become a star. Al-Hassan has never lost yet in six fights, but he's been competing on the smaller circuit. This is over in two rounds.
Welterweights
MIKE SWICK -400
JONATHAN GOULET +300
This fight was supposed to take place in September but Swick hurt his ribs and had to call the fight off. The Ultimate Fighter alum has gone the full distance in each of his last four fights, which is kind of unusual. Still, that doesn't necessarily mean Goulet can go the route with him. Goulet is supposedly the second best welterweight in Canada (to GSP), which might be like saying UCLA is the second best college football team in Los Angeles. In other words, so what? Goulet is a veteran, with 31 career fights, but he's lost nine of them, and only one of them got as far as the third round. He'll hear only one bell here.
Lightweights
JIM MILLER -125
MATT WIMAN -105
In just three years, Miller has been around, winning 13 of his 14 fights and capturing titles in the Cage Fury and Reality Fighting organizations. He has also fought in the International Fight League. Part of a brother combo (Dan Miller is also signed to the UFC), he's a student of jiu-jitsu and wrestled at Virginia Tech. he beat David Baron over in England in his only UFC bout to date (UFC 89). But this New Jersey native may have a bright future. And there is opportunity to move up quickly in the lightweight division. Wiman can offer resistance; he's 10-3 and has been with the UFC for about two and a half years. He's got some quality results, including a tough, close decision loss to Roger Huerta and a win over Thiago Tavares, a very capable fighter, in his last outing. A mild "upset" here would be no big surprise.
Middleweights
TIM CREDEUR -155
NATE LOUGHRAN +125
Here's an interesting proposition: less than a week after the Army-Navy football game, how will a Navy guy like Credeur be received by an all-Army audience of Fort Braggers (or would that be Fort Bragg-arts)? Credeur has some "cred" in the Octagon, having beaten Brandon McDowell, Cale Yarbrough and others. But stamina might be a question - after all, since his second bout, which was while he was with King of the Cage, not one of his fights has gone past the first round. Loughran is an intriguing opponent because in nine pro fights, all wins, he has yet to have to go the distance, with one TKO and eight submissions. Keep an eye on him. And look for the upset.
Middleweights
JOHNNY REES -130
STEVE BRUNO Even
Rees was sailing along with a 10-0 record until the aforementioned Loughran put him in a triangle choke four minutes into the first round of their July 19 fight. End of story. But Rees tries to rebound, against Bruno, who is part of America's Top Team out of Florida. Bruno is another former Navy guy, and who knows what the dynamic is going to be in this audience of servicemen and servicewomen. He's lost his only outing in the UFC, a decision to Chris Wilson at UFC 87. He had won four fights in a row before that. Rees, known as the "Hater Hurter," still hasn't fought much in the way of competition. Let's play even money.
(Charles Jay of www.ebookies.com is a former manager, matchmaker and color commentator in professional boxing. He currently pulls no punches in the BetUS Locker Room)
