Ufc 126 [B]Vitor Belfort +230 [/B]vs Anderson Silva
If you watched Anderson Silva's last fight, you would back Vitor Belfort now and take this generous price. Silva was dominated for 4 and 3/4 rounds by Chael Sonnen, who may or may not have been on performance enhancing drugs, and who had a good game plan of taking Silva down in each round, basically holding him at bay and delivered the ground and pound. Belfort is not Sonnen and pretty much a pure striker, but once he gets his opponent to the canvas he is as good as they come in finishing off an opponent.
Belfort returned to the UFC in 2010 and demolished Rich Franklin via TKO last September. He is younger, stronger, won his last 5 fights and at this stage of his career is at the top of his game. Silva has 13 consecutive wins, eight of them title defenses, he is getting long in the tooth, he looked slow and out of shape vs Sonnen, needed a last second submission to win, otherwise the scorecards were 0-5 against. Yes, he still is considered the most dangerous MMA fighter, but not by me.
[B]Rich Franklin vs Forrest Griffin Under 2.5 Rounds +160[/B]
Both of these fighters are stand up strikers, they don't waste time on the canvas wrestling. Both are considered somewhat stars in the sport, they draw crowds and PPV buys, so I don't expect to see one of them get into too much trouble if they get hurt and the ref stopping the fight as soon as one of them gets knocked down. Griffin hasn't fought in quite some time, but he looked sharp at the public workouts. He has a suspect chin and so does Franklin.
[B]added Miguel A Torres -326[/B]......this is the current line at Pinnacle. It has been bouncing around between -320 and -360.
Torres the former WEC Champ with 40 MMA fights should breeze through Banuelos who we saw at the public workout. He is no less than half a foot shorter than Torres, slow and not much of a skill set to beat the multi-talented Torres. On top of that Banuelos has lost to at least 2 fighters that Torres defeated handily, eg; Manny Tapia.
I rarely play UFC big chalk but after handicapping the entire card, Torres looks like the easiest fight on the board.
[B]added Rich Franklin -140[/B].......this is the current line in Las Vegas and at Pinnacle.
I've been leaning to Franklin in this match and have now made a bet. Franklin a little shorter, but upper body and legs strength superior. He has been more active and is taking this fight seriously to continue his UFC career at 36 years of age. He has the better record at 28-5.
Griffin is all heart, but lacks the overall skills to beat this calibre. The main handicap is that Griffin has been out of the Octagon for quite some time. He looked weak and slow to me at the workout and weigh in. Also got word that he was out partying late Wed night. Should be an interesting fight, we'll side with Franklin and hope he knocks him out early as we have the Under 2.5 rds.
