UFC 97: Redemption for Bread's Wallet
UFC 97: Redemption! Who is redeeming what, you ask? I am redeeming my bankroll, that’s who. The event takes place in Montreal and is headlined by a championship five round bout. Oh goodie goodie!
Anderson Silva -550
Thales Leites +425
You can place me in the camp that believes that Anderson Silva (23-4-0) can do no wrong. He was highly criticized for his lackluster performance and showboating in his last fight against Patrick Cote, and rightfully so. It sounds like he is focused and wanting to make a statement at the expense of Leites’ (14-1-0) face. That +425 doesn’t sound so tempting anymore, does it?
Make no doubt about it, Leites has earned the right to become Silva’s statement victim. He has won 5 in a row, including his last two victories against Nate Marquardt and Drew McFedries. Thales has looked impressive during this run, and he possesses a great ground game. The problem is, there is nothing that he can do better than Silva. I feel this one could get ugly.
And to get more bang for your buck, consider playing the fight to end within 5 rounds at -625, and Silva to win inside 5 rounds at -330. Hopefully he really has gotten the nonsense out of his system and comes prepared for business. My new favorite trashy reality TV star is Marcia Brazil, and she knows both of these countrymen well. She gave me the inside scoop that Anderson is going to do some serious damage.
Marcia Brazil says to take Silva. Ay yi yi!
Chuck Liddell -175
Mauricio Rua +155
This is where the rubber meets the road for Liddell (21-6-0). He hasn’t just lost three of his last four, he has lost them brutally. “Rampage” Jackson, Keith Jardine and Rashad Evans have all smacked Chuck around like his name was Rihanna. This is absolutely Liddell’s last shot at staying relevant. I am not much of a fan, but my money is on Liddell to win and to win early, as I’m also going with the fight to end early at -270.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (17-3-0) got beat up by Forrest Griffin, and was not impressive at all against 44 year old Mark Coleman recently. How poorly will he fare when he faces a spring chicken like the 39 year old Liddell? Rua used to be a Brazilian model for name brand products and fashion parades. I’ve seen how crazy those Brazilian parades get. It makes me wonder if “Shogun” would “show” his “gun.” Chuck with an early TKO in this one.
Luiz Cane -300
Steve Cantrell +250
I’m going to get real technical on this one. You ready? In his last fight, Cane (10-1-1) sent Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou aka The African Assassin packing from the UFC. I’m not very happy about that. Cane’s nickname is “Banha”. In his native Portuguese language, that translates to “lard”. Cane’s middle name is Arthur. Would you mess with a guy who has Arthur as his middle name and nicknamed “Lard”?? Me neither.
On the other hand is Steve Cantrell (7-1-0). Can you hear that? Coming around the mountain? It’s the karma train and it’s about to smack Cantrell right in the face. In his last fight four months ago, he caught Razak Al-Hassan in a nasty armbar and made it pop. He immediately jumped up like an idiot for the crowd making motions like he snapped the arm, and yelling in the cameras that he broke it. Of course this is a violent sport, and if someone isn’t going to tap, well, they have it coming. But you rarely see a fighter celebrating his opponent getting seriously hurt, because there is a mutual respect. Not Cantrell though. He was yelling how he always wanted to break one and he finally did. As it turned out, it was just a dislocated elbow, so sorry Steve, but you haven’t made it yet. And the karma train is coming for you.
The last guy who had a date with the karma train was Manny Gamburyan. He was fighting Rob Emerson back in August and was a about a -500 favorite. But in his previous match against Jeff Cox, Manny committed a huge MMA faux pas. As the first round began, Cox came to meet Gamburyan in the middle of the Octagon to touch gloves. Manny took advantage of the offering and threw a kick at Cox. Unreal. The karma train came in full effect when Emerson knocked Gamburyan out in an embarrassing 12 seconds in his next fight. Cantrell backers beware.
Choo choo
David Loiseau -120
Ed Herman +100
The undercard of UFC 97 has a wonderful menagerie of Pink Hamsters. Mark Bocek, Ed Herman, and the mother of all Pink Hamsters, Jason MacDonald, will all brighten Bread’s evening with varying shades of magenta previously unseen by man.
The matchup that I like the best is Loiseau (18-8-0) vs. Herman (18-6-0). Herman is another fighter who is in desperate need of a win after losing two straight to Demian Maia and Adam Belcher. Unfortunately for him, he has to fight a guy in his hometown. Whenever the UFC travels outside of Vegas, they usually throw in someone from the area to get the fans excited and they almost always win. Poor Rich Franklin had to get smacked around in front of his hometown Ohio fans by Anderson Silva, but other than that it’s usually a good thing.
Loiseau hasn’t even been in the UFC since 2006, and has been toiling away fighting guys that nobody has ever heard of. But I don’t care. They brought him back for a reason and that is to make the folks in Montreal happy. Herman is going to glow like the Northern Lights and Bread is going to profit.
No pink hamsters
Eliot Marshall -125
Vinicius Magalhaes -105
For some reason these odds have not been released at any of the great MMA books like 5dimes yet, but I have seen those listed odds at some other unmentionable places. I’m not sure if they will stick or not, but I like Magalhaes (3-3-1) either way.
Both of these guys have nice futures in MMA from what I saw on the last installment of TUF. Vinny is a freakishly skilled jiu-jitsu guy and a physical specimen to boot. Eliot Marshall (6-2-0) just got done completely dismantling Jules Bruchez to the point of non-recognition. It was great!
I really like both of these guys, but I feel that Magalhaes is going to go a long way when it’s all said and done. It’s time to rebound from the nasty KO that Ryan Bader put on him and it starts tonight. Either way, I think I’m looking forward to this fight more than any other. That includes all the ones previously mentioned, and I haven’t even brought up Krzysztof Soszynski, Cheick Kongo and Nate Quarry yet. Great card. Good luck to all.
