UFC 133 Betting Preview at Bodog
By Richard Gardner
It's a great month for mixed martial arts as the UFC stages two cards in August, starting with this Saturday's
UFC 133 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia? next is UFC 134 at the end of the month in Rio de Janeiro.
The main event on Saturday features a light heavyweight bout between
Rashad Evans and former champion
Tito Ortiz. It was originally supposed to be Phil Davis against Evans but Davis had to pull out injured. Then reportedly both Ortiz and Lyoto Machida turned down the chance to replace Evans before Ortiz had a change of mind. You have to give him credit as Ortiz will be fighting for the second time in a little more than a month. On July 2 at UFC 132, Ortiz (16-8-1) took a first-round submission win over Ryan Bader, a result that saved the 36-year-old's job. Leading up to the fight, UFC president Dana White made it clear Ortiz needed a win to continue his UFC career, having dropped four of his last five heading into that bout.
Evans (15-1-1), a former light heavyweight champion himself, hasn't fought since earning a unanimous decision win over Quinton Jackson in May 2010 at UFC 114. Crowned the No. 1 contender following that fight, Evans was scheduled to face then-champion Mauricio Rua at UFC 128 last March but Rua required knee surgery. He was then set to face current champ Jon Jones, but that fight was scrapped due to an injury to Jones' thumb.
This bout will be a rematch of a controversial draw between the two at UFC 73 in July 2007. Ortiz was penalized for grabbing the fence in the fight, which ultimately prevented him from taking a decision. Since the judges awarded Ortiz two of the three rounds, the deduction resulted in scores of 28-28 across the board. Thus Ortiz obviously would have won without the deduction.
"Tito's gonna try and take me down, try some ground and pound. That was his game plan in the first fight, and I'll think he'll try that again, Evans said "I'm that much faster than him, as long I keep moving at all times and use my speed, he'll be making a mistake stepping into the cage with me. I'm confident no matter where the fight goes. ? There's no doubt in my mind I'll defeat Tito Ortiz. That I know for sure.?
Evans opened as the -400 favorite at
Bodog with Ortiz at +300 and those numbers haven?t changed. Ortiz has taken about 58 percent of the action thus far. Evans is 2-0 in his UFC career as the betting favorite while Ortiz is 1-3 as the betting underdog. When the last bout ended in a draw, the odds closed at Evans -105 and Ortiz at -125.
White has said a victory for Evans means a title shot against the winner of the bout between Jones and Jackson at UFC 135 in late September and even hinted the same could be true for Ortiz.
Saturday's co-featured bout pits Vitor Belfort against Yoshihiro Akiyama in a middleweight contest. Belfort (19-9) enters the fight coming off of a first-round knockout loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 126 in early February. Prior to that he had won five fights in a row. Akiyama (13-3) is coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in his career and fighting for his UFC survival. He last fought Michael Bisping at UFC 120 last October.
The betting on this bout has been very lopsided. Belfort opened at -275 but is now at -285 because he has taken more than 93 percent of the action. Akiyama moved from +215 to +225. Belfort is 1-0 as the betting favorite while Akiyama is 1-1 as the betting underdog.
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