For a breakdown on betting lines and future UFC title bouts, Sherdog.com consulted Joey Oddessa, one of the game’s preeminent oddsmakers and wagering experts:
Lightweights
Diego Sanchez is next in line for a shot at the title and hopefully presents a better challenge than the near 3-to-1 odds indicate. Gray Maynard has improved with every appearance, but champion B.J. Penn has shown himself to be head and shoulders above the lightweights. Maynard would scale in around the same odds as Sanchez against Penn. Shinya Aoki might be the most appealing matchup for Penn outside the current UFC roster. Other non-UFC roster fighters Tatsuya Kawajiri and Eddie Alvarez are also compelling matchups for Penn, but the Hawaiian would be somewhere around a 2-to-1 favorite against any of them. ... Read More
With its present lineup of five champions, the UFC has a group that ranks far superior than any of its predecessors in the history of the organization and the sport. In addition, they rank higher in their respective weight classes -- only Brock Lesnar lacks top dog status ... Read More
In a year during which the featherweight division has played a pivotal role, perhaps it is fitting that the division's hottest prospect will close out 2009 as its top-ranked competitor. ... Read More
It was a banner night for Great Britain on Nov. 14 as the Ultimate Fighting Championship staged UFC 105 in front of its biggest U.K. crowd to date. ... Read More
UFC President Dana White and Cain Velasquez met with UFC Fight Club members Friday in Las Vegas and discussed a variety of topics. White said the following: ... Read More
Tito Ortiz has not won a fight in three years, has not held the light heavyweight title in more than six and has not competed since May 2008. ... Read More
Brock Lesnar was released from a North Dakota hospital on Tuesday and is recuperating from “minor surgery” in his Alexandria, Minn. home, the fighter’s close friend and chiropractor Dr. Larry Novotny told ABC television affiliate KSAX. ... Read More
While being the furthest thing possible from a not-for-profit organization, Zuffa remains fairly generous when it comes to offering high-level, competitive fights for free. If the strategy is to do the exact opposite of the greedy financiers that stifled boxing in the 1990s, then the strategy is working.
Wednesday’s WEC event on Versus -- Zuffa’s third event in eight days -- determines the world’s top featherweight fighter, a role previously held by both Urijah Faber and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. Challenger Jose Aldo has TKOed every single one of his five WEC opponents, dispelling the commonly-held thought that sub-155 athletes don’t have knockout power; champion Mike Thomas Brown is also undefeated in the promotion, having taken Faber’s title in very violent fashion. ... Read More
Brock Lesnar is being treated in an unidentified hospital for a bacterial infection in his intestinal tract, UFC President Dana White told the Associated Press on Monday ... Read More
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