We have further enhanced the Upcoming Events page by:

• Displaying gambling odds for fights.  The reported odds are an average of around a dozen gambling websites and are displayed on the detail pages next to the fighter names.
• Event icons that indicate special conditions.  Currently, we have one icon available — to signify when a former UFC veteran is fighting on a non-UFC card.  We will continue to add more icons in the coming days/weeks.  The next two we are working on will indicate if there are odds available and if a ranked woman is fighting on the card.

With UFC 152 inching closer day-by-day, it’s time for another chapter in the “Gambling Analysis” series.

In some ways, it is good that UFC 151 was canceled as it certainly boosts the PPV legitimacy of  the UFC 152 card.  With Jones taking on Belfort, who shouldn’t even be getting a whiff of a Light Heavyweight Championship, the co-main event is the fight that I’m expecting to deliver the most.  As such, that’s the fight we’ll be looking at.  In this fight, we have Joseph Benavidez, one of the best Bantamweights in history, taking on Demetrious Johnson, for the inaugural UFC Flyweight Championship.  As of the time of writing, UFC 152 betting on Top Bet features Benavidez as a -290 favorite.

Although the point difference between the two fighters isn’t that large within the FightMatrix ranking system, I always like what I see with Benavidez.  My feeling is that he does just about everything a little better than Johnson and holds physical advantages that will be key in this fight.  I’m predicting he will come out even stronger for his second fight in the Flyweight division and take out ‘Mighty Mouse’ in the third round.

For a reference, here are the details for our past “gambling analysis” article picks:

• UFC 128 – Jon Jones vs Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua: Jones @ -210
  • Predicted Outcome: TKO (Rd 2/3) | Actual: TKO (Rd 3)
• UFC 129 – Georges St. Pierre vs Jake Shields: St. Pierre @ -450
  • Predicted Outcome: Wide Unanimous Decision | Actual: Unanimous Decision
• UFC 129 – Lyoto Machida vs Randy Couture: Machida @ -350
  • No Outcome Predicted
• UFC 130 – Frank Mir vs Roy Nelson: Mir @ -125
  • Predicted Outcome: Split Decision | Actual: Unanimous Decision
• StrikeForce – Chad Griggs vs Valentijn Overeem: Griggs @ -110
  • Predicted Outcome: TKO | Actual: TKO
• StrikeForce – Justin Wilcox vs Gesias Calvancante: Wilcox @ +130
  • No Contest
• UFC on FX – Jim Miller vs Melvin Guillard: Miller @ -213
  • Predicted Outcome: Submission (Rd 2) | Actual: Submission (Rd 1)
• UFC on Fuel TV – Stefan Struve vs Dave Herman: Herman @ -140
  • Predicted Outcome: KO/TKO (Rd 1) | Actual: TKO (Rd 2)
• UFC on Fuel TV 2 – Alexander Gustaffson vs Thiago Silva: Gustaffson @ -225
  • No Outcome Predicted
• Strikeforce GP Final – Daniel Cormier vs. Josh Barnett: Cormier @ -105
  • Predicted Outcome: KO/TKO (Rd 3) | Actual: Unanimous Decision
• PENDING: UFC 152 – Joseph Benavidez vs. Demetrious Johnson: Benavidez @ -290
  • Predicted Outcome: TKO (Rd 3)

If you had bet $100 on each one of the winners at the odds listed above, you would have made a profit of: $355.95.  The listed odds are either approximations, or provided by our sponsors, so with a little work on your part, you could increase this total a bit as we don’t go out of our way to find the absolute best odds.  Furthermore, if you heeded our advice on going “big” for certain match-ups (Machida/Couture), you’d likely have even more profit.  We’re also doing pretty good on the specific outcome plays, but availability of these are not as prominent as they are in boxing betting, so we don’t include these as official bets.

Keep in mind that the above is for “entertainment purposes only”.

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With UFC 151 cancelled, it has been nearly a month since a major MMA event, and another two weeks to go until 152 gets here with its overall strong card but an oddly make-shift main event. If you like to bet on NFL football, you may be excited about the start of the 2012 season… but as strictly an MMA aficionado, I’m getting restless without my weekly dose of fights.

There’s plenty of blame to share for the cancellation of UFC 151, and I’m not going to beat the dead horse that has already been well-beaten in so many MMA blogs. Instead, let’s just put this one behind us and look forward to Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort.

Wait, Vitor Belfort? Why is the reigning, dominant light-heavyweight champion who is #2 on our Division Dominance list, defending his title against the #5 middleweight? The answer is simple: Jones has thoroughly cleared out his division, having destroyed the majority of the 205 Top 10 without suffering so much as a cut or a black eye in process. Dan Henderson is injured, and former champions Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua are not exactly raring at the bit to fight Jones again and try to regain the title they once held. Alexander Gustaffson or Glover Texeira are the only legitimate options left for Jones, and that’s assuming at least one of them gets past their next challenge. This is why middleweight contenders like Belfort, Chael Sonnen, and even Chris Weidman are offering to throw themselves into the 205 mix. But short of a huge stroke of luck, such as the one that visited Belfort when he defeated Randy Couture for the light-heavyweight title, it’s hard to imagine these middleweights giving ‘Bones’ much of a fight.

There is however one middleweight who would be one hell of a challenge for Jones. I am talking of course about the champion and the greatest fighter of his generation, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva. Keep reading to see why I believe this match-up would be great for all the parties involved:

Keep Reading

“Star Ratings” have been added to the Upcoming Events page, which will allow you to gauge the quality of events that we have bout information for.  We want this page to become “the go-to” for viewing the upcoming MMA schedule.  We are still ironing out some wrinkles with the rating, but it the first iteration is now “live”.

More information about the rating can be found at the top of the page.