UFC 180 Preview
By MMA OddsBreaker
Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) is back once more with a pay-per-view this weekend with the promotion's first event in Mexico. It kicks off with UFC 180 tomorrow night in Mexico City, Mexico. Here's the outline for tomorrow's show:
Main Card
265 lb title: Fabricio Werdum (17-5-1) vs. Mark Hunt (10-8-1)
170 lbs: Jake Ellenberger (29-8) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (10-0)
145 lbs: Ricardo Lamas (14-3) vs. Dennis Bermudez (15-3)
170 lbs: Augusto Montano (13-1) vs. Chris Heatherly (8-2)
170 lbs: Edgar Garcia vs. Héctor Urbina (16-8-1)
Preliminary Card
145 lbs: Yair Rodriguez (3-1) vs. Leonardo Morales (4-0)
135 lbs: Alejandro Perez (14-5) vs. Jose Quinonez (3-1)
135 lbs: Jessica Eye (10-2) vs. Leslie Smith (7-5-1)
145 lbs: Gabriel Benitez (16-5) vs. Humberto Brown (4-4)
135 lbs: Henry Briones (15-4-1) vs. Guido Cannetti (6-1)
135 lbs: Marco Beltran (5-3) vs. Marlon Vera (6-1-1)
This event is special due to the headlining bout of the main card, which features an interim title fight between top ranked heavyweights Fabricio Werdum and Mark Hunt. Werdum was originally expected to face champion Cain Velasquez but a knee injury to Velasquez opened the door for incredible underdog story Mark Hunt to step up on short notice and vie for the championship. Werdum will be the more prepared fighter and he's a significant betting favorite, but you can't count out Hunt's ability to finish this bout with strikes at any moment.
Pay special attention to the welterweight and featherweight match-ups on the card as top 170-pounders Kelvin Gastelum and Jake Ellenberger square off while elite 145-pounders Ricardo Lamas and Dennis Bermudez duke it out. Gastelum was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 17 and is still undefeated with a significant victory over Rick Story while Ellenberger has been a staple of the top welterweights for years. This will be a huge test which will decide whether or not Gastelum is for real.
The same can be said about Dennis Bermudez as "The Menace" has now won a ridiculous seven straight bouts in the UFC featherweight division. Lamas should be the perfect test for The Ultimate Fighter season 14 finalist as he's two bouts removed from a five-round decision loss to champion Jose Aldo earlier this year.
UFC 180 Odds and Picks
By: Hugh Citron
Sportingnews.com
LAS VEGAS – UFC 180 comes to us Saturday night from Mexico City, Mexico, with a fight for the interim heavyweight title between top-ranked Fabricio Werdum and fourth-ranked Mark "Super Samoan" Hunt (10 p.m. ET, PPV). This fight was supposed to be champion Cain Velasquez defending his title against Werdum, but a knee injury to the champ forced him to withdraw a few weeks ago. Werdum is a -450 favorite in here, with Hunt getting +325 odds as the underdog. The opening numbers had Werdum about a 3-to-1 favorite.
Werdum (18-5-1), who is on a four-fight winning streak, seems to have hit his stride at age 37. His last fight, probably his best performance, was a dominating unanimous decision over highly-regarded and favored Travis Browne. Werdum's most famous victory came back in 2010, when he submitted the great Fedor Emelianenko in the first round. That fight took place in the Strikeforce promotion. Werdum's strategy against Hunt should be simple: stick and move and try to avoid close exchanges where Hunt can be particularly dangerous. Werdum was able to use this to great effectiveness in his fight with Browne.
For the "Super Samoan" (10-8-1) to pull off the upset here, he's really going to have to push the pace and force Werdum into a slugfest. A slow-moving stand up fight with distance between the fighters won't bode well for Hunt. Hunt, though, does have knockout power, as he proved in his last fight by taking out Roy Nelson in the second round. The win wasn't so unexpected, but the knockout was, as Nelson has always proved a tough customer to finish.
Last December, Hunt was involved in one of the most memorable fights in UFC history: a five-round draw with Antonio Silva. That contest went back and forth, with each fighter having the advantage in what truly was one of the best stand up fights of all time. Back in May 2013, Hunt fought the always tough Junior dos Santos. Though he was a heavy underdog, he did well for most of the fight before losing by KO in the third round.
Betting isn't just about who you think is going to win -- it's more about where the better value is. While Werdum likely has a better chance of winning, the price of -450 is too high and offers no value. Hunt, who has surprised us with upset wins before, just seems to offer the better value at more than 3-to-1 odds. We hope this fight turns into a slugfest, and Hunt lands one of those big left hooks to knock out Werdum.
Take the underdog Mark Hunt and the generous price of +325 to become the interim heavyweight champion Saturday night.