UFC 152 is rapidly coming together as the card will now feature a flyweight championship fight between Joseph Benavidez vs. Demetrious Johnson and a middleweight contender scrap between Brian Stann and Michael Bisping.
UFC 152 Schedules Flyweight ChampionshipThe UFC’s first flyweight championship between Joseph Benavidez vs. Demetrious Johnson has been officially scheduled for UFC 152 on Sept. 22 at Toronto's Air Canada Centre.
The two flyweights will be a key feature on the card along with B.J. Penn making his return from a brief retirement against Rory MacDonald, which will be contested for the first time ever under the supervision of VADA’s strict drug testing policies.
The fact that Joseph Benavidez is coming in as a -300 betting favorite is downright baffling to me. The only way I can see this not being a completed bout is if Benavidez lands a huge right hand early in the fight, otherwise we can expect a 5 round back and forth bout that will likely be split 3-2 for either man.
Simply put, Johnson’s longer and more fluid combinations can easily still 3 close rounds on the cards. His higher volume of strikes and quicker hands are almost certainly worth a play at current odds of +232 at sportbet.com. I’d be surprised if his line didn’t close below +200, so if you like the challenger in this match-up, I’d lock him up now before the line eventually swings in his favor.
The second addition made to UFC 152’s main card over the weekend was a middleweight scrap between potential number one contenders Brian Stann and Michael Bisping.
For Bisping, an impressive victory would potentially catapult him to the top of the line as
the next challenger for middleweight champion Anderson Silva. As of now, he’s likely 3rd on that list behind Hector Lombard and Chris Weidman.
UFC Betting Results + Latest UFC Odds to hit the Books
In a rare occurrence for the MMA betting community, the favorites went on an unbelievable tear last week finishing 23-2 overall.
Our final documented tally for the weekend was 10-3 on our straight bets and a 2-0 record on our sbr write-ups for the weekend, consisting of wins with
Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and heavyweight boxing champ David Haye - up to date MMA plays can always be tracked on twitter @BrianMMA11.
At the UFC on Fuel TV 4, we nearly went a perfect 6-0 but our one loss for the night came on Rafael Natal as an underdog. At +140, he clearly proved to be the correct play, but despite being on his way to having a 2-0 lead heading into the third round, Natal continuously dropped his hands and was eventually finished with a vicious head kick at the end of the second frame.
Our biggest cash of the event was on Chris Weidman, who went on to become the first middleweight to ever finish Mark Munoz inside the UFC. He was able to beautifully time a short elbow as Mark charged the pocket in the second round. From there, he quickly followed up with a barrage of fight ending punches to earn his first KO victory inside the octagon. He was so dominant that many feel his performance validates him getting the next title shot against Anderson Silva.
Meanwhile, Yushin Okami opening around -250 over Rousimar Palhares was the feature line release of the week.
At first glance, the line seems fairly accurate as most are expecting Okami to easily stuff Paul’s shots as he methodically peppers him with his well times jab. I would either play Palhares to win in round 1 or avoid a bet on the underdog altogether.
Yesterday afternoon
we also had Cheick Kongo open at nearly -230 on the UFC betting odds board over the much younger Shawn Jordan.
This was a line we discussed in our latest UFC 149 write-up, where we correctly anticipated value on Jordan as the underdog.
Unfortunately, there was very little time to take advantage of this mispriced opener as the line quickly fell from +170 to where it current rests at -115. At current odds, there’s simply no play worth making unless we see another drastic 50 cent shift either way.