Author: McKinley Noble

UFC 162 Odds: Anderson Silva Opens as Small Favorite vs. Chris Weidman

Although UFC middleweight contender Chris Weidman is less than 10 fights into his MMA career, oddsmakers are giving him a good shot against Anderson Silva.In fact, Weidman is opening with the best betting line against Silva in years.As relayed by betti…

Although UFC middleweight contender Chris Weidman is less than 10 fights into his MMA career, oddsmakers are giving him a good shot against Anderson Silva.

In fact, Weidman is opening with the best betting line against Silva in years.

As relayed by betting aggregate website BestFightOdds, Silva has been pegged as a -215 favorite by 5Dimes, while Weidman is rated as a strong +165 underdog.

When you look at Silva’s history on the betting books, that’s actually kind of remarkable.

To break it down further, here’s the list of opening odds (via BestFightOdds) given to Silva’s opponents over the last seven years or so:

• UFC 162: Anderson Silva -215 / Chris Weidman +165
• UFC 153: Anderson Silva -1350 / Stephan Bonnar +850
• UFC 148: Anderson Silva -235 / Chael Sonnen +175
• UFC 134: Anderson Silva -425 / Yushin Okami +325
• UFC 126: Anderson Silva -325 / Vitor Belfort +250
• UFC 117: Anderson Silva -450 / Chael Sonnen +300
• UFC 112: Anderson Silva -425 / Demian Maia +325
• UFC 101: Anderson Silva -240 / Forrest Griffin +190
• UFC 97: Anderson Silva -275 / Thales Leites +215
• UFC 90: Anderson Silva -370 / Patrick Cote +300
• UFC Fight Night 14: Anderson Silva -600 / James Irvin +400
• UFC 82: Anderson Silva -140 / Dan Henderson +100
• UFC 77: Anderson Silva -300 / Rich Franklin +220
• UFC 73: Anderson Silva -190 / Nate Marquardt +155

[Note: BestFightOdds does not have fighter data or odds for UFC 67, UFC 64 or UFC Fight Night 5.]

Historically, this means that Weidman has opened with the best odds against Silva since the champion’s UFC & Pride FC middleweight title unification bout against former Pride champion, Dan Henderson.

Incidentally, Weidman’s +165 underdog status gives him better odds against Silva than even welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

Naturally, the betting line will shift in the lead up to the fight, especially in the last couple of weeks.

Although Silva is widely recognized as the No. 1 pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the sport, his major weakness is known to be strong wrestling, a trait exploited by takedown specialists like Henderson and Chael Sonnen.

Weidman’s strong odds likely come from both his undefeated 9-0 career fighting record, in addition to his credentials as a multi-time NCAA All-American wrestler.

Not only did Weidman earn two All-American honors in junior college, but he also repeated the feat in Hofstra University at the NCAA Division 1 level.

Additionally, the relatively close opening odds could also be a matter of a strong young talent against an aging champion—Weidman is in his athletic prime at 28 years old, while Silva will turn 38 on April 14 this year.

But the talented Silva has proven capable of dealing with all kinds of fighting styles, including elite wrestling, which has led to his current 16-0 record in the UFC and 10 consecutive title defenses. To put it mildly, Weidman has a tough task ahead of him, even if the early odds aren’t against him yet.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and tech writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld, PC World, 1UP, NVision, The Los Angeles Times, FightFans Radio, MMA Mania and Bleacher Report. Talk with him on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

World Series of Fighting: Former UFC Welterweight Jon Fitch Debuts on June 14

Just a little over two weeks after being let go from the UFC in a shocking series of roster cuts, former welterweight contender Jon Fitch has found a new home.According to MMA Fighting, Fitch’s next bout will be in the World Series of Fighting promotio…

Just a little over two weeks after being let go from the UFC in a shocking series of roster cuts, former welterweight contender Jon Fitch has found a new home.

According to MMA Fighting, Fitch’s next bout will be in the World Series of Fighting promotion, possibly on their June 14 card:

According to [WSOF vice president] Abdel-Aziz, Fitch is expected to debut for the promotion at its third event on June 14. He could face the winner of Aaron Simpson vs. Josh Burkman, which will take place at WSOF 2 on March 23, but that has not been set in stone just yet.

Fitch’s sudden dismissal from the UFC (via MMA Fighting) came as a shock to much of the MMA community, as the American Kickboxing Academy star had been a firm staple in company’s ranks since October 2005.

During the last seven years, Fitch has been a perennial contender, defeating the likes of Thiago Alves, Ben Saunders, Mike Pierce, Diego Sanchez and prospect Erick Silva while amassing an impressive 14-3-1 record in the UFC.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for him to secure his job.

Often criticized by MMA fans and pundits alike for his “boring” top-heavy wrestling game, Fitch arguably has little drawing power compared to the likes of more successful welterweights like Nick Diaz, Carlos Condit and Johny Hendricks.

When Fitch (currently 35 years old) heads into his first professional bout with WSOF, he’ll be riding a 2-2-1 stretch in his last five fights.

But regardless of his recent struggles, Fitch is likely the highest-ranked at MMA welterweight outside of the UFC right now, even with his crushingly one-sided loss to surging contender and jiu-jitsu ace Demian Maia during UFC 156.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and tech writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld, PC World, 1UP, NVision, The Los Angeles Times, FightFans Radio, MMA Mania and Bleacher Report. Talk with him on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 158 Conference Call: Nick Diaz Proves GSP Really Does Have a ‘Dark Place’

Hearing welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre get angry is an extremely unusual thing, but UFC star Nick Diaz is a truly unusual man.In a surprisingly heated conference call, Diaz and GSP absolutely tore into each other (UFC.com via MMA Heat), d…

Hearing welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre get angry is an extremely unusual thing, but UFC star Nick Diaz is a truly unusual man.

In a surprisingly heated conference call, Diaz and GSP absolutely tore into each other (UFC.com via MMA Heat), dishing out heavy trash talk, making fun of each other’s accents and outright threatening to beat each other down.

That’s right, both of them—not just Diaz.

(And yes, I was very, very wrong about their grudge being a big fat lie.) 

Heck, the trash-talk flew so fast on the UFC 158 call, a silent Carlos Condit eventually hung up on the call, while Nate Marquardt and Jake Ellenberger didn’t even get to say a single thing.

“Rush” gave as good as he got, too, calling Diaz an “uneducated fool” and more, screaming over the phone as the verbal fight escalated.

In short, it was everything that this feud needed right from the start.

Anger. Heat. True, unhinged animosity.

Moreover, that’s a side of St-Pierre that not even Josh Koscheck could bring out over six weeks of bullying on the set of The Ultimate Fighter.

Ladies and gentlemen, the jokes are over.

Georges St-Pierre definitely has a “dark place” inside of him.

It’s real—no longer just hype, not just a Twitter meme; no longer a punchline from a generic UFC ad.

Now that we finally know the champion can lose his cool, the upcoming UFC welterweight title fight at Montreal’s Bell Centre got 10 times more interesting.

Has Nick Diaz finally gotten into GSP’s head?

Or is the Stockton rebel just digging himself a even deeper grave than before?

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and tech writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld, PC World, 1UP, NVision, The Los Angeles Times, FightFans Radio, MMA Mania and Bleacher Report. Talk with him on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Champ GSP Says Benson Henderson Can’t ‘Cut in Line’ for Title Shot

Anthony Pettis isn’t the only UFC lightweight on the roster who wants to be a two-division fighter, as Benson Henderson has called out welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, “Bendo” cited that while he has …

Anthony Pettis isn’t the only UFC lightweight on the roster who wants to be a two-division fighter, as Benson Henderson has called out welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, “Bendo” cited that while he has a title defense ahead of him at UFC on Fox 7, there’re bigger fish to fry:

I want to fight in the biggest fights and against the best fighters. Georges St-Pierre is one of the greatest fighters in our sport’s history. Of course I’d love to fight him, and I think the fans would want to see that fight too. It would be an honor to go up against such a great competitor, especially with a title on the line.

Unfortunately for Henderson, GSP isn’t interested in that fight.

During a phone interview with MMA Fighting on Wednesday, the welterweight champion called Henderson out for wanting a piece of the UFC’s pay-per-view money, stating that Bendo needed to get behind a lot of other contenders instead of ‘cutting the line’:

‘There are a lot of people who want to make money on pay-per-view,’ St-Pierre said in a one-on-one phone interview. ‘But only a few fighters who can do it. So the quickest way to try to get one of those fights is to try to call out one of those fighters who can make money. It’s a way to try to cut the line.’

Unlike a couple of years ago, there are actually plenty of fresh challenges for GSP, with his most immediate one being his upcoming UFC 158 opponent, Nick Diaz.

Moreover, power-puncher Johny Hendricks is still technically the No. 1 contender in the welterweight division, with former interim champion Carlos Condit poised to claim that distinction if he beats Hendricks on March 16 in Montreal.

At a glance, Diaz, Hendricks and/or Condit could keep GSP busy for at least another year.

Hence, St-Pierre summed up the situation by stating that even someone as dominant as the current lightweight champion isn’t on his radar:

I’ve got a fight against Nick Diaz coming up next week and that’s what I’m thinking about right now. After that there are other welterweight contenders on the way. Ben Henderson isn’t a fight I’m thinking about right now.

Aside from St-Pierre vs. Diaz and Hendricks vs. Condit, UFC 158 will also be supported by a third welterweight battle between Jake Ellenberger and former Strikeforce champion Nate Marquardt.

Of course, things could always change with Diaz, as the unpredictable Stocktonian has already gotten himself cut from one title fight against St-Pierre at UFC 137. As UFC president Dana White recently told MMA Junkie, unfulfilled media obligations and escalating production costs have left Diaz “close” to losing his second shot at St-Pierre.

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Mark Munoz vs. Tim Boetsch Confirmed for UFC 162 Card in Las Vegas

Even more fights have been announced for the upcoming UFC 162 card in Las Vegas, with the promotion further padding out the rapidly growing event.Official UFC sources confirmed with Bleacher Report that Mark Munoz vs. Tim Boetsch is now scheduled …

Even more fights have been announced for the upcoming UFC 162 card in Las Vegas, with the promotion further padding out the rapidly growing event.

Official UFC sources confirmed with Bleacher Report that Mark Munoz vs. Tim Boetsch is now scheduled for the event, in addition to another middleweight and light heavyweight tilt.

Per the promotion’s official news brief, here’s the four matches confirmed for July 6:

• Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman
• Roger Gracie vs. Tim Kennedy
• Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs. Thiago Silva
• Mark Munoz vs. Tim Boetsch

That’s six middleweights and two light heavyweights, with Munoz and Boetsch both coming off derailing losses to Weidman and Costa Philippou respectively.

Like UFC 161, there’s a strong presence of former Strikeforce fighters on the card as well.

Between the three of them, Gracie, Kennedy and Feijao have 18 Strikeforce bouts on their records, with all three making their UFC debuts in Las Vegas.

Feijao is the lone member of the group not coming off a win, as he most recently had a May 2012 submission win over Mike Kyle overturned to a no-contest decision after testing positive for stanozolol—a banned substance most commonly used for bodybuilding.

Thiago Silva is the fighter most at-risk on the card so far, as the Blackzilian team member hasn’t recorded a win since August 2009 at UFC 102. That’s due to two failed drug tests, plus a pair of defeats to Rashad Evans and Alexander Gustafsson, giving Silva a mediocre 1-2-0-2 record in his last five trips to the Octagon.

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UFC 161 Adds Pat Barry vs. Shawn Jordan, Jake Shields vs. Tyron Woodley

Several fight announcements continue to roll out for the UFC 161 card in Canada, as a heavyweight and welterweight match have been confirmed for June 15.According to the Winnipeg Free Press, heavyweights Pat Barry and Shawn Jordan will join the card, a…

Several fight announcements continue to roll out for the UFC 161 card in Canada, as a heavyweight and welterweight match have been confirmed for June 15.

According to the Winnipeg Free Press, heavyweights Pat Barry and Shawn Jordan will join the card, along with Jake Shields vs. Tyron Woodley.

UFC Canada’s official Twitter account further solidified the news, posting it on their feed:

 

This will mark “HD” Barry’s second fight in Canada during his MMA career, with his last bout there ending in a submission defeat to Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.

Since then, Barry has posted a split 3-3 record in the UFC and will enter UFC 161 off a knockout win over Shane del Rosario.

Bellator MMA and Strikeforce veteran Jordan has also stayed afloat in the heavyweight ranks, posting a 2-1 record in his three UFC fights with a recent TKO win against Mike Russow—Jordan’s 14th victory out of 18 career bouts.

“The Savage” is far from the only former Strikeforce veteran on the card, though.

Woodley enters his fight with Jake Shields riding the momentum of a fantastic 36-second knockout finish over Jay Hieron, which boosts an 11-1 record against strong competition including Nate Marquardt, Paul Daley and Tarec Saffiedine.

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Shields will mark this as his first fight back off a positive test for banned substances. Originally, he had pulled out a decision win against Ed Herman at UFC 150, but the result has since been changed to a no-contest.

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