Early UFC 132 Betting Odds: Cruz Favored over Faber
Posted by Drew Ellis (06/27/2011 @ 3:43 pm)
UFC 132 takes place this Saturday night from Las Vegas and our friends at BetOnFighting.com have released their odds for six of the bouts on the card.
In the main event, UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz is a slight favorite to beat challenger Urijah Faber. Cruz has odds of -130 while Faber has a money line of +100.
Faber is the only blemish on Cruz’ record, but Cruz is a much different fighter now and Faber has somewhat underwhelmed in his short time at bantamweight.
In the co-main event, Wanderlei Silva (-185) is favored to beat Chris Leben (+155) in what should be a slugfest in the middleweight division. Both men are standup fighters that like to trade punches. You would expect someone to get KO’d in this one.
Silva has the more impressive wins list, but his chin is not nearly as strong as it once was. Leben isn’t a great technical striker, but when he hits you, it does a lot of damage.
In what could be Tito Ortiz’ final bout with the UFC, he is a heavy underdog (+365) in his contest with wrestling standout Ryan Bader (-465).
Bader has just one loss in his career, to current champion Jon Jones. Ortiz hasn’t won a fight since beating Ken Shamrock in October of 2006. He hasn’t beaten anyone currently relevant since he beat Forrest Griffin in a close decision in April of 2006.
Check out all the current odds for UFC 132 after the jump.
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Posted in: Betting Odds, Events, Fighters, News, UFC
Tags: Carlos Condit, Chris Leben, Dennis Siver, Dominick Cruz, Dong Hyun Kim, Matt Wiman, Melvin Guillard, Ryan Bader, Shane Roller, Tito Ortiz, UFC 132, Urijah Faber, Wanderlei Silva
Top 10 Lightweight Rankings
Posted by Drew Ellis (05/04/2011 @ 5:43 pm)
For the most part, rankings fighters in each division starts easy and ends tough.
That isn’t the case for my lightweight rankings.
Of any division in MMA, the lightweights are the toughest to sort through. The group is very top-heavy and even the distant contenders are hard to decipher.
Nonetheless, here is my top 10 list for the lightweights. Feel free to add your take on who should be in the top spots.
(If you need to go back and find my pound-for-pound, heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, or welterweight rankings, click on the links)
1. Frankie Edgar (13-1-1) – Edgar is the UFC Lightweight Champion and the lone lightweight in the world to clearly dominate the great B.J. Penn. Edgar will get his chance to put his stamp on the top spot when he faces Gray Maynard for the third time on May 28, but the fact that Edgar pulled out a draw at UFC 125 after that brutal first round is a testament to his abilities. Edgar’s speed, hands, and wrestling are a very impressive combination, especially for a man that could arguably fight at featherweight.
2. Gray Maynard (10-0-1) – Maynard has yet to lose and if he didn’t put everything he had into knocking Edgar out in the first round of their UFC 125 bout, he would be the champion today. Maynard was once just a wrestler, but is now showing strong striking ability. If he can put forth a full 25 minutes in May, he will become the champion and take over the top spot in my rankings.
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Posted in: Bellator, Dream, Fighters, Strikeforce, UFC
Tags: Anthony Pettis, Clay Guida, Dennis Siver, Eddie Alvarez, Frankie Edgar, Gilbert Melendez, Gray Maynard, Jim Miller, Lightweight Division, Melvin Guillard, Shinya Aoki
