FULL UFC 177 BETTING ODDS (UPDATED WITH LATE ADDITIONS, INJURY REPLACEMENT)
With the UFC’s next pay-per-view event just more than three months away, it’s time to begin having a look at the betting odds for your card. Two bouts on the card already have lines released, and they are about as different as could be. In the main event, T.J. Dillashaw will defend his newly won UFC bantamweight title against the guy he took it from, Renan Barao. In their first battle, Barao closed as a enormous -910 favorite (bet $910 to win $100) over Dillashaw. The Team Alpha Male manhood ruled that first battle, scoring a fifth-round TKO in one of the biggest anti upsets in UFC history. This time, the odds are much closer, with Dillashaw sitting at -140 and Barao the little underdog at +120 (bet $100 to win $120). There are eight extra bouts on the card which up until now did not have gambling lines posted. MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas changed that today as he released the complete UFC 177 gambling odds at 5Dimes Sportsbook. ———— MAIN CARD (PPV, 10pm ET) UFC Bantamweight Title TJ Dillashaw -140 Renan Barao +100 Tony Ferguson -265 Danny Castillo +185 Bethe Correia -160 Shayna Baszler +120 Carlos Diego Ferreira -280 Ramsey Nijem +200 Yancy Medeiros -135 Damon Jackson -105 ————– PRELIMINARY CARD (Fox Sports 1, 8pm ET) Lorenz Larkin -140 Derek Brunson +100 Henry Cejudo -185 Scott Jorgensen +145 Anthony Hamilton -210 Ruan Potts +160 Joe Soto -125 Anthony Birchak -115 ————– PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Night, 7:30pm ET) Chris Wade -140 Cain Carrizosa +100 ————– Brad’s Evaluation: I actually want Bethe Correia to win this particular battle, so that I never have to hear anything about the ridiculous”Four Horsewomen” ever again. Nevertheless, Correia hasn’t confronted anyone of Baszler’s skill level, especially when it comes to grappling. I think Baszler can wade through Correia’s striking and drag this battle to the ground where she will have a distinct edge. The biggest worry for me is about Baszler’s long layoff and injury woes of late, and it can be more than sufficient to keep me from betting her. Tony Ferguson seems like a nightmare matchup for Danny Castillo. Castillo has been labeled on the feet a few times before, and unlike his bouts against Tim Means or Anthony Njokuani, he will not have the ability to fall back on his wrestling here if the striking doesn’t go to plan. This should be quite competitive in most regions, but Ferguson has slight edges that ought to propel him to victory. Lorenz Larkin is only 27, but the decline in his performances of late night makes him seem like a 37-year-old. He seemed completely listless against Brad Tavares for 10 minutes, and was immediately dispatched by Costas Philippou. On the flip side, Derek Brunson supplied the toughest test of Yoel Romero’s livelihood in his latest bout. It feels like Larkin was extremely overvalued as a prospect while at Strikeforce, while Brunson had been missed. This is an extremely difficult bout to call in terms of a side or a complete, so I’ll likely stay out completely. On the other hand, I believe Ramsey Nijem is in for a rough night against Carlos Diego Ferreira. Nijem may have a wrestling advantage here, but even that’s questionable. Ferreira is the much better submission grappler, and likely even the better striker at this point (though Nijem’s improvement in that regard last time out was nice to see). I anticipate Ferreira to get the win, and probably put another end on his resume from his submission skills or Nijem’s questionable chin. Henry Cejudo consistently made for fascinating bouts even when he was confronting completely overmatched contest, so now that he’s up against a legitimate evaluation in Scott Jorgensen, I must admit this is one of my most anticipated bouts on the card. The physical benefits here belong to Cejudo, as does the wrestling advantage, obviously. He may not have the well-rounded skill set to stop Jorgensen, but I believe he wins rounds with takedowns and scrambling. Cejudo handed one of the important tests for prospects in his last outing too, becoming cracked square on the jaw and shaking it off to win not only the fight, but round as well. The major question with Cejudo, as always, is: how concentrated is he? Maybe being signed with the UFC was the impetus he needed to start taking the game seriously, as in his past appearances (and non-appearances) using Legacy FC, it’s quite obvious he has been coasting at times. Against Jorgensen that he may not have the ability to get away with a half effort, and if he does it’ll make him even more special. A Legacy veteran making his UFC debut with less fanfare is 39-year-old Richard Odoms. His sole loss came into UFC heavyweight Jared Rosholt, but he’s generally been in a position to restrain and outhustle competitions to pick up decisions. That will be hard against Ruslan Magomedov, who really possesses decent cardio to get a heavyweight, to go together with his solid striking. Coming off of almost a year layoff, it’s hard to expect much from Odoms, so I anticipate Magomedov to pick up the win, but he’s someone I completely expect to fade when he can pick up a few more wins and confront adequate competition. The hype on Yancy Medeiros came a bit too fast, and should almost be snuffed out at this stage. His striking defense appeared atrocious against the two Yves Edwards and Jim Miller, along with his submission match was practically non-existent as he had been tapped within minutes of hitting the floor against Miller. Perhaps that could work to the benefit of his backers from Justin Edwards however, as Edwards isn’t UFC caliber, even in this point. Edwards has a fantastic guillotine, rather than many different abilities, therefore Medeiros has this fight to win so long as he doesn’t dive in that weapon. Edwards will probably come out quickly, because he must know that a win will mark the conclusion of his UFC employ. Speaking of pink-slip derbies, the loser of Ruan Potts and Anthony Hamilton will probably be shown the door as well, because both place on putrid dislpays in their UFC debuts. Potts is an aggressive — but not overly talented — grappler, although Hamilton showed massive holes in his grappling against Alexey Oleinik. On the other hand, Hamilton has some power and Potts was put out with one shot on the ground against Soa Palelei. Either guy could finish this fight quickly and I would not be amazed, or else they could play it safe and we could be treated to a truly awful heavyweight MMA. In case the price for this particular bout to go over 1.5 rounds is large enough, I might just have a shot there in hopes that the bout really is of the bad selection, but I can not see myself putting much more than Monopoly money down on this contest.