[brooks85]

im going to be on howard, i like him in the matchup a lot

[Vaughany]

im going to be on howard, i like him in the matchup a lot

I was thinking Alves would have a slight advantage in every area, Howard might have better power (punching) but Alves has better leg kicks. Only guys he has struggled against were Fitch and GSP who had superior grappling ability and cardio, I dont think Howard is going to have this advantage, especially now that Alves is working with Dolce and keeping his weight around 193lbs rather than 203!. Alves will actually have the slight height and reach advantage for once in this fight and is in a must win situation if he wants to stay relevant in the division. Alves has walked through Lytle, Parisyan, Koscheck (allbeit Koscheck fought on late notice) and Hughes, guys that I dont think Howard could beat or at least beat as convincingly. Getting split-decisions against the likes of Chris Wilson and McCrory isnt that impressive IMO, Alves would tear through them. Howard did KO Hallman but that was Hallman's first fight back and not at his best weight. His KO of Roberts was impressive though.

[The HOFF]

Date: Dec 11, 2010

Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Venue: Bell Centre
Broadcast: Pay-per-view

MAIN CARD

• Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck (welterweight title)
• Sean McCorkle vs. Stefan Struve
• Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira
• Mac Danzig vs. Joe Stevenson
• Thiago Alves vs. John Howard

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Mark Bocek vs. Dustin Hazelett
• Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Rafael Natal
• Sean Pierson vs. Matthew Riddle
• Joe Doerksen vs. Dan Miller
• Ricardo Almeida vs. T.J. Grant
• Pat Audinwood vs. John Makdessi

[The HOFF]

This is a pretty weak card. The main event is exciting but the rest of this card looks like a Fight Night card! McCorkle vs Struve is the co-main event? What a joke.

[Chairib]

Co-main event?

[Stinger]

Co-main event?

[omalley21]

I know Doomsday, hes the man, but he isn't gonna beat Alves.

[urge2kill]

Less than 2 weeks out and lines are only up for 1 fight

[THE_LOCKSMITH]

This is a pretty weak card. The main event is exciting but the rest of this card looks like a Fight Night card! McCorkle vs Struve is the co-main event? What a joke.

Yea it is weak, it looks like they are going the same way of the Rampage/Evans card at UFC 114. Coming off coaching TUF, that card had Bisping/Miller as its co-main and it did just over a million PPV buys.

It will be interesting if this card can come close to a million buys. keeing in mind GSP/Hardy did 850K PPV buys with Mir/Carwin as co-main

[Maddjacklee]

GSP vs Kos will likely be a slow and long fight. The only chance KOS has is to defend the take down. Even then he has to contend with GSP's stand up. GSP shouldn't have a problem winning by decision.

[Vaughany]

This is a pretty weak card. The main event is exciting but the rest of this card looks like a Fight Night card! McCorkle vs Struve is the co-main event? What a joke.

Alves Doomsday is the fight before GSP vs Kos...not McCorkle Struve. Pretty solid IMO

[Vaughany]

TJ Grant, Almeida, Bocek, Hazelett, Riddle, Dan Miller all on the undercard, decent card but thn Im only payin £12 a month for subscription to ESPN and not $50 for a one off event!

[omalley21]

TJ Grant, Almeida, Bocek, Hazelett, Riddle, Dan Miller all on the undercard, decent card but thn Im only payin £12 a month for subscription to ESPN and not $50 for a one off event!

Give it time, you'll be paying more before you know it. They are just getting you hooked.

[Vaughany]

Give it time, you'll be paying more before you know it. They are just getting you hooked.

Well theyve got the contract for another 2 years so its all good for now!

[THE_LOCKSMITH]

So does anyone else besides USA and Canada have to pay for PPV?

[The HOFF]

Alves Doomsday is the fight before GSP vs Kos...not McCorkle Struve. Pretty solid IMO

Everything I've read has McCorkle/Struve in that spot. Even the UFC webpage has it as the fight after Kos and GSP.

[Vaughany]

Theyve got the 10 minute preview on UFC.com now and that has GSP/KOS, THIAGO/HOWARD & JOEDADDY/DANZIG has the 3 previewed fights.

[Jrod124]

cant wait for this fight. been looking forward to it for a while

[Socrates]

Sounds like a semidecent fight.

[Vaughany]

McCorkle has gone from +180 to -150! Some big line movement there!

[lasker]

McCorkle has gone from +180 to -150! Some big line movement there!

WTF?! Makes me wonder what happened to Struve.

[cky312]

Oh man Charles Oliveira (-130) vs Jim Miller (-110) are up on Sportbet, I wanna hammer this snot out of this line, but I don't have an account at Sportbet =(

[Vaughany]

Miller should improve to Evens or a bit better I think. I'll be taking Miller by decision no matter what tho!

[Vaughany]

Looks like line is going the other way...Oliveira at +110 now.

[Eccocide]

I woulda pounded Miller at -110 if I'd seen the opener. Already at -150 .

[forevergrindin]

I got Miller at +120, is there some news that caused this?

[Vaughany]

I got Miller at +120, is there some news that caused this?

No, it's just because of the Oliveira hype. +120 is great value, I took Miller at +105 because I didnt think it would get much better than that. I think you'll find that Miller's line will get close to Evens by fight time when more experienced handicappers take him. Also, Miller is a decision machine so many people might be looking to just take that prop rather than Miller straight up.

[Vaughany]

Im thinking of taking McCorkle to win in Rnd 1 at +500, if somebody could let me know what the odds are for that prop on 5dimes or any of the other US site that would be much appreciated!? Also Rnd 2 as I may hedge it with that at +700.

[lasker]

Im thinking of taking McCorkle to win in Rnd 1 at +500, if somebody could let me know what the odds are for that prop on 5dimes or any of the other US site that would be much appreciated!? Also Rnd 2 as I may hedge it with that at +700.

those props aren't up yet on 5dimes or any other US bookie, as far as I know.

[lasker]

No, it's just because of the Oliveira hype. +120 is great value, I took Miller at +105 because I didnt think it would get much better than that. I think you'll find that Miller's line will get close to Evens by fight time when more experienced handicappers take him. Also, Miller is a decision machine so many people might be looking to just take that prop rather than Miller straight up.

I think the last reason is the most important. Oliveira can win this fight a number of ways, but if Miller wins it seems extremely unlikely to come within the distance. Miller opened as a -150 favorite on some sites and is now at +120. I disagree that this is just square public betting and I think he'll still be a small dog when the line closes, but we'll see.

[Vaughany]

Sportingbet.com are offering Alves/Howard FOTN at +800...this seems like great value, I was expecting it to be one of the favourites but even Joe Daddy/Danzig is +750, then GSP/Kos and McCorkle/Struve are both +350, and Miller/Oliveira +450. Think Im gonna have to create an account tomorrow just to get those odds!

[THE_LOCKSMITH]

lol. funny to see Sean McCorkle vs. Stefan Struve on the Count Down Show

[Vaughany]

Dana's first UFC124 blog...shows post Garcia/Nam debacle!..

[Glitch]

ya i watched that dana white vblog earlier today.....thats cool that hes payin nam the same as if he would've won. i changed the channel when that fight was over because (i thought) i knew who won.

def. taking a chance on kos this weekend. of course gsp is better, dont state the obvious if anyone comments on this fight....kos is an excellent fighter and he hits hard and wrestles well. he definitely has a chance and even now at +360 its worth a shot.

[urge2kill]

If I were going to play Kos I'd play him to win inside the distance. I don't think he has much of a chance to win a decision over GSP.