UFC 112 Odds

UFC 112 on April 10th is sure to be one of the biggest MMA events of this year, with two title defences and a couple of other special fights.

First up, Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia is a very interesting match up. Sure, it has only happened due to Chael Sonnen being unable to fight right now, and it is true that Maia has only one fight between now and his first loss. Nevertheless, most of Silva’s losses have come from submissions, and Maia is a phenomenal BJJ practitioner. It is most likely that Anderson will beat Maia into a fine paste, but a submission victory for the challenger is still an outside possibility.

BJ Penn will murderize Frankie Edgar on the weekend. I don’t know if he’ll do it standing or if he’ll just casually choke one more lightweight challenger. Wherever he decides to fight, the only thing that will save Edgar from a Sanchez/Penn-like bloodbath is BJ’s mercy. Will he have any for Frankie Edgar? If he ends it in the fourth, yes (he lets the opponents he respects at least get to a championship round). If he ends it in the fifth after an incredibly one-sided beatdown, no (Diego Sanchez must have crossed a line or something).

Matt Hughes v Renzo Gracie is an unfortunate fight. Yeah, Hughes has the whole Gracie rivalry thing going, but he is massively overmatched for Renzo. Hughes is far younger, at 36 to 43, and he has a record that normally wouldn’t even be casually compared to that of Renzo Gracie, as it is so much better. Everyone knows that this will end with Renzo getting dominated with wrestling, and then either having his face beat in or just holding out for three rounds to a lopsided decision for Hughes.

UFC 112 is kind of top heavy. While it is nice to see Kendall Grove on the main card of a real UFC event against Mark Munoz, a lot of the other fights have little to no casual appeal. It’s almost like they spent all the money paying for the top 3 fights and had practically nothing left for the prelims. Oh well, while that isn’t great for the people who actually go to see this live, it makes little difference to those of us watching from home.

The next few months are going to be very exciting for UFC fans, but let’s not forget Strikeforce, as the Nashville event will see Jake Shields vs Dan Henderson, Gegard Mousasi vs Muhammed Lawal, and Shinya Aoki vs Gilbert Melendez. Those are all championship fights, yet Shields is likely the underdog against Henderson, and Melendez is in for a tough fight against Aoki. It’s a real contrast to the UFC, where the champions are so dominant that many of them keep talking about moving up in weight class.