UFC 142 goes down this Saturday from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and though it doesn’t feature quite as epic a lineup as the UFC’s return to Brazil at UFC 134, the fact that the card has still maintained its two marquee match-ups is something to brag about, if only due to how cursed a card this has been. So if you, like Siyar Bahadurzada, Paulo Thiago, Stanislav Nedkov, and Fabio Maldanado, find yourself watching the action from the sidelines on Saturday night and suddenly in need of some extra dough, then we are here to help. Check out the betting lines below, courtesy of BestFightOdds, and join us after the jump for some sound betting advice.
Main Card
Erick Silva (-525) vs. Carlo Prater (+415)
Edson Barboza (-270) vs. Terry Etim (+230)
Rousimar Palhares (-525) vs. Mike Massenzio (+415)
Anthony Johnson (-110) vs. Vitor Belfort (-110)
Jose Aldo (-240) vs. Chad Mendes (+200)
Preliminary Card
Antonio Carvalho (-225) vs. Felipe Arantes (+175)
Mike Pyle (-460) vs. Ricardo Funch (+340)
Yuri Alcantara (-195) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (+160)
Sam Stout (EV) vs. Thiago Tavares (-140)
Gabriel Gonzaga (-120) vs. Edinaldo Oliveira (-110)
The Main Event: While there is little denying Jose Aldo’s dominance up to this point, a glaring factor leading into his fight with Chad Mendes is that he has NEVER EVER faced a wrestler as strong as “Money.” And though he’s brought in Gray Maynard to help him prepare for the Team Alpha Male standout, you can only catch up so quickly to a PAC-10 wrestler of the year who has achieved the rank of All-American as well. If Mendes wants to win this, it’s obvious that he’s going to have to take it to the ground, which is easier said than done against a guy like Aldo. Kenny Florian tried it for the majority of five rounds to little avail, but Mendes might just have a speed advantage over the champ which could allow him to put “Scarface” on his back early and often.
And of course, there is always that cardio factor to contemplate. We’ve seen Aldo go five rounds on multiple occasions, but he has shown a tendency to coast, if you will, in the championship rounds. Mendes, on the other hand, has yet to go five rounds, but has never looked even remotely tired in any of the eight decision victories he has collected in eleven fights. But Aldo will be fighting in front of his hometown crowd, so you can damn well rest assured that he’ll be trying to end things early and get back to the sex filled game of beach volleyball that is Brazilian life.
The Good Dogs: At first glance, it seems a little odd that Sam Stout would be billed as a slight underdog against Thiago Tavares, who has never been a man of consistency in his octagon career. But perhaps the bookies are basing Stout’s mindset heading into this one on that of his teammate, Mark Hominick, who didn’t exactly look like himself in his seven second knockout loss at the hands of Chan Sung-Jung. Personally, we’re not buying that, and think Stout should easily hand Tavares an ass whooping, though it won’t really net you much if he does.
Michihiro Omigawa also looks pretty tempting at +160; he showed some crisp, varied striking attacks in his most recent win over Jason Young, and should really be on a two fight win streak considering the fact that everyone but the judges knew he beat Darren Elkins at UFC 131. You could place a bet on Terry Etim if you feel so inclined, but there was little to take away from his 17 second guillotine of Edward Faaloloto (which was Etims first fight in nearly two years, BTW). We recommend you take any leftover cash you might have and make a side bet with your friends as to which limb of Mike Massenzio’s Rousimar Palhares is going to tear off, or how long he will hold the submission after the ref intervenes, or how early he will begin to celebrate, or…
Stay the Hell Away From: The Johnson/Belfort match, for obvious reasons. This is Johnson’s first fight in a weight class remotely close to the one he should be fighting in, and if he feared Dan Hardy’s hands enough to warrant a three round grapple fest, God knows what he’s going to do against a guy like Belfort. Just sit back and enjoy this one, because it ain’t going the distance. We were going to add the recently un-retired Gabe Gonzaga to this list, but if the man is good at one thing, it’s crushing relative unknowns (and we’re secretly praying that Oliveira comes down with a case of the octagon jitters). Also, Rousimar Palhares. Just stay away from him in general.
Official CagePotato Parlay: This one is tough, because a lot of the favorites are listed miles ahead of their competitors, so we’re going to have to stretch out our parlay if we want some real return.
Aldo + Barboza + Pyle + Palhares+ Gonzaga
50 bucks gets you $207.91 back. Not bad for a parlay composed entirely of favorites.
-Danga
The 
At the UFC 142 pre-fight press conference, 
The