Yeh, I heard that but I put that down as some Diaz BS.

Anderson doesn’t miss weight and only in the last couple of years when they were talking about super fights he said he could make it to 170 which is a weight he’s fought at before, so it’s likely he could make a catchweight.

Also he gets paid 600k just to show on his new contract, why would he give up 120k, miss out on any bonuses, screw himself with the fans/media and annoy the UFC who might give him an extra bonus? Plus Diaz would have an out to talk about if he lost to Anderson.

I don’t have any real knowledge but I think it’s possible they wanted GSP to fight Anderson, GSP said he wanted a catchweight, they called Diaz and he accepted knowing that if they did a catchweight they’d probably go back to GSP again and offer it to him first.

It seems the UFC is doing some Bellator blocking by signing Cro Cop and Quinton Jackson. I can't really see where these guys will fit in the UFC so I'm assuming it's just to stop Bellator from using them.

Jackson vs Shogun would be a decent matchup considering their history.

tbh they're good signings the guys are big names and are still UFC caliber fighters even if they never fight for the belt and 100-250k a fight is spare change to the UFC

Either they get wins and continue to be UFC caliber draws or the UFC can use them to establish mid tier guys as legit contenders. Rampage will make a fine gatekeeper to the top 15 and CroCop can fill the old Kongo gatekeeper role

I think they wanted to stop the hype of a Kimbo vs Cro-crop fight

Makes sense as most of us would have tuned in for that even though it's a freakshow match

You might already know, but Rampage is scheduled to fight Maldonado next on the Dillashaw/Barao PPV.

Along with Bisping/Dollaway and Rory/Hector.

Yeah I know Rampage is booked; should win too and get a decent opponent next. Maldonado will be a punching bag for even a past his prime rampage imo

Doesn't surprise me, considering the direction they are taking as of lately, making some moves that make more sense entertainment/rating wise than sports wise (CM punk mainly).
I don't mind it, as long as true talent is not suffering because of it, we can have these old guard matchups. Rampage/Maldonado should be a fun matchup, and let's just hope they don't start matching up Rampage/Cro Cop with fighters who are past contendership and/or offers boring matchups. Either give them up and coming fighters who can notch down a legendary name on their records, or fun standup fighters who will provide entertainment.

That would have been great, Cro Cop would have smashed him.

Got Anthony Johnson at +240 on Betfair for this weekends event. I really like Gus and think he will edge it but I have been very impressed with Rumble especially in the Davis fight where he looked great and showed he has decent cardio at his natural weight. The other dog I like is Bader as he has good enough wrestling to hang with Davis and is the more natural and powerful striker so +200 upwards looks really good to me.

Wish I would have bet Gus at his opener, not sure if I can do it at -280. Pretty confident he wins but starting to get to a fair line IMO.

Henderson just going to be a punching bag but odds reflect that.

Sicilia maybe? Idk I can never win a bet involving that guy lol...

Made my first few bets of the card

1.5u Gustafsson -254

I think he beats Rumble and makes him look bad. He showed he is a Jones level fighter. Jones just dominated Cormier. While rumble is top 10, I do not think he is top 2 and he needs to be to beat Gustafsson. I think Gustafsson is a solid -300 here, maybe -350 even. Rumble will have his moments but I think he needs to finish Gustafsson to win a 5 rounder and even Jon Jones couldn't do that.

1.5u Bader +210

I see this as more of a pickem fight, if Davis can't get takedowns Bader has more power and both are great wrestlers, slight edge Davis, but the striking is close (Davis throws a lot of volume but with poor technique) and Bader has the power edge. I'd say this is more like Bader +130.

1u Krylov -114

He's young and improving a lot and from memory looked better last fight; Nedkov is fairly slow from memory and I think Krylov is improving more at this stage of their careers - plus Krylov is -130 everywhere else so I got a good price

1u Bektic fight u2.5 -129

Bektic beat Skelly and Skelly has really impressed me. He's touted as the next big thing. I think he lives up to the hype here and gets the finish. Paul redmond is a journeyman and is here as a stepping stone for Bektic.

1u Hendo/Mousasi o2.5 -117

Hendo's chin isn't what it once was but it's pretty good and Mousasi while an excellent striker is much more likely to 30-27 Hendo due to better pace and technique than finish him with a big shot imo. Hendo could always land a H bomb but that gets less and less likely as he recedes from his prime.

All five of the above parlay 0.2u +2374 my usual parlay for sweats and a bonus if all of my leans for the card win

Wonderboy +136 vs Thatch anyone? Long layoff for Thatch and while he's a great prospect he hasn't really beaten anyone as good as Wonderboy. Winner of this fight should get a top 8-ish opponent next. I'd have figured Wonderboy is a small fav here rather than small dog

Machida +129 looking nice vs Rockhold too; feels like unless Machida is suddenly past his prime he's a small fav too

Wedum +396 looking nice too; he has the BJJ to hang with Cain from bottom position and his standup is good enough that if the fight stays standing he catches cain often enough at +396 imo

Obviously Cain is the fav but I think he's more like a -300 fav imo especially with a long layoff

Bektic performance of the night is tempting at +800 as is Bader POTN at +1700 since if Bader finishes as a +210 dog he'll get it a lot

Thatch looks awesome so far I think he finishes Wonderboy.

Machida fight should be close +130 seems decent though.

Cain probably rolls Werdum but the skillset's intriguing for sure.

Bektic prop seems solid.

does anyone know what gegard-hendo opened at? i thought i saw it at -300ish for gegard and i was gonna load up on that but now its -440 which i think is much much better

Looks like -350/+250.

https://www.bestfightodds.com/fighte...rd-Mousasi-643

MMAFighting.com ‏@MMAFighting
Benson Henderson steps in for injured Bobby Green, faces Jorge Masvidal at UFC FN 63 in Fairfax, Va. http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/1/22...en-faces-jorse …

April 4

Looks like someone is trying to get unstuck.

I wish Benson the best in that fight. I think he's a good person who of late has been on a bit of run bad. Should be a good fight.

Thats a shame I wanted to bet masvidal over green

Should be a good fight and Bendo should win in theory but Masvidal will make it a fight - i'd say 29-28 Bendo. Probably not gonna bet unless Masvidal is +350 or Bendo is -150 or better though and I doubt either will be

@Sect7g havent had time to place your bets yet about to play a liveament will when i get home. if you want to make any others have a think about them today as ill be in a liveament on event day and wont be around to make last minute bets

Bad fight for Bendo right now. Masvidal isn't top 10, yet has a pretty legit shot at winning.

Any chance Benson calls it quits if he drops 3 straight here? Would be a real shame.

I don't think so, he's only 31 years old and he won the Cerrone fight in many peoples eyes (karma imo, he's won a couple of close calls I thought he should have lost). Though he's pretty far from a titleshot, he'd need to defeat probably 2-3 top 5 fighters after this Masvidal fight to get considered for a titleshot. He wasn't really a big draw when he was champion so I doubt UFC would want him to win it.

Cro Cop Gonzaga 2 announced, nice... Think I favor Gonzaga this time as well.

Well that's my point. If he drops 3 straight is there really a road back to the belt? I kinda doubt it. He doesn't fight that frequently.

He would have to beat 2 guys in the top 8-15. Then probably 2-3 ranked in the top 8. Then he would have to hope that him/champ are not injured, and there isn't a bigger draw up there as well. By the time he gets another shot he is going to be 35-37, assuming he wins all those fights.

Seery 3.8u
Amirkhani 2.8u
Taisumov 1.6u
Aliev 1.4u
Johnson 1.4u
Corissani 1.2u

Bets are in !

Yeah, road to titleshot is gona be hard, but he's still cashing in like 50k per fight, excluding win bonus (so 100k if he wins) and that's quite a lot for a fighter like Benson who doesn't have any other outlet like for instance Kenny Florian who transitioned into broadcasting. Beside, Benson hasn't taken that much punishment during his career, and he'd probably will try his luck at welterweight before giving it up (he is a huge LHW). I can potentially see him calling it quits when he's 35-36, after all agility/speed is more important for lighter fighters than it is for LHW/HW who sometimes can get by on pure technique and power.

Forgot to update last card, but went 5-4 for +2.49u. putting me at
YTD: Straight bets 7-8, +0.58u. Prop bets 1-7, -4u. Over/unders 1-1 -0.64u
YTD total: 9-16, -4.06u

Have a really big card here, hoping it works out well.

Seery +180 (2u)
Nedkov +105 (2u)
Ogle -150 (1u)
Aliev -162 (1u)
Tumenov -135 (5u)
Johnson +260 (4u)

Seery via dec +371 (1u)
Redmond via sub +2225 (1u)
Bader via dec +350 (5u)
Mousasi sub +250 (1u)
Johnson via dec +850 (1u)

Pesta/Erokhin o2.5 +325 (1u)
Krylov/Nedkov u1.5 -134 (1u)
Mousasi/Hendo u2.5 +100 (1u)
Gus/Rumble o2.5 -145 (1u)

FOTN Krylov/Nedkov +900 (1u)
POTN Tumenov +700 (1u)
u2.5 finishes main card -230 (5u)

I've got:
Bader +205 - 1u
Johnson +225 - 1u
Johnson by Dec +850 - 1u
Krylov -125 - 2u
Pesta/Erokhin O1.5 +160 - 1u
Pesta by Dec +1100 - .3u

I'm really liking Erokhin in the early HW fight and Pesta getting rocked in his last fight against Ruslan Magomedov worries me a bit but I think Pesta can drag the fight out through wrestling/toughness and maybe secure a decision win if Erokhin can't KO him.