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UFC 82 Odds & Predictions
After picking Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira to defeat
Tim Sylvia in the featured
match in UFC 81, we’re all
set to take a look at the
UFC 82 odds and predictions.
UFC 82: Pride of a Champion
is set to take place on
March 1, 2008 at the
Nationwide Arena in
Columbus, Ohio. This event
won’t have quite the same
flair being outside of
Vegas, but it is still sure
to provide plenty of bone
crunching action.
The main event will be a
middleweight title
unification match between
UFC champion Anderson Silva
and PRIDE FC Welterweight
champion Dan Henderson.
Anderson “The Spider” da
Silva is a Brazilian Muay
Thai champ and also holds a
black belt in Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu. The 32-year-old
fighter stands 6 feet 2
inches tall and weighs in at
185 pounds. The current UFC
middleweight champ is also
the current Cage Rage World
middleweight champion, which
is something that many don’t
know about this guy. With
professional wins over Rich
Franklin, Carlos Newton,
Jeremy Horn, Hayota Sakurai,
Chris Leben, Travis Lutter,
and Nathan Marquardt, he has
quite the resume. Silva is
currently a member of the
Black House with the
Nogueira Brother among
others.
A number of publications,
including MMA Weekly and
Sherdog, have all ranked
Silva as the number one
middleweight in the world
and back last October,
Sherdon ranked him as the
top pound for pound fighter
on the planet. With 6
consecutive wins and a
professional record of 20-4,
Silva apparently has things
figured out.
Dan “Hollywood” Henderson,
also known as Hendo and
Dangerous, stands 6 feet 1
inches tall and also weighs
in at 185 pounds, but at 37
years of age may not have
quite the stamina it’s going
to take to upset Silva.
While Henderson has had his
fair share of success a loss
to Quinton Jackson in his
last fight and two losses in
his last four bouts, suggest
that he is not ready for a
fighter of Silva’s caliber.
With a professional record
of 22-6 in MMA competition
and with such feats as being
the only fighter to ever
hold titles in two weight
classes simultaneously.
Henderson does have wins
over Wanderlei Silva, Vitor
Belfort, Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira, Renato Sobral,
Kazuo Misaki, Kazuhiro
Nakamura, Renzo Gracie, and
Murilo Bustamante under his
belt. While he has an
extensive history in
wrestling, having competed
in the Olympics, we feel
Henderson’s time at the very
top is now over.
We’ll bet Silva as the
-170 favorite at
Bookmaker.com.
Josh D. Koscheck, also known
as “Kos”, is a huge favorite
in this event in his
Welterweight bout against
Dustin Hazelett. Hazelett is
about as big an underdog as
you’ll find and rightfully
so as he is giving up a lot
to Kos. Koscheck specializes
in taking guys down and
using his wrestling
background as his main
weapon. He is coming off a
loss to Georges St. Pierre
last August at UFC 74 and
will be out for blood
against an inferior fighter.
The loss to St. Pierre cost
Kos a shot at the 170-pound
title and you’ll see him
take out his frustration in
this one.
Hazelett is on a bit of a
low-key run, winning his
last three fights since
dropping his UFC debut to
crafty veteran Tony DeSouza
via submission back in
October 2006, which is more
of an indicator of what we
can expect. Hazelett is
giving up much in experience
department and this will be
his most difficult MMA
opponent yet. In our
opinion, Hazelett stands no
chance against a guy that
MMA Weekly has ranked as the
number five welterweight in
the world. We’ll have to lay
some cheese to get Koscheck,
but it will be worth it.
Here are the UFC 82 odds
listed below:
Dustin Hazelett
+350
Josh Koscheck
-500
Heath Herring
+140
Cheick Kongo
-160
Dan Henderson
+140
Anderson Silva
-170
Yushin Okami
-220
Evan Tanner
+170
Updated February 5th, 2008
Red = Best Line for Top Fighter
Green = Best Line for Bottom Fighter
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