UFC president Dana White today revealed to reporters a middleweight bout between former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo”Jacare” Souza and Yushin Okami has been targeted for a future event. The fight is intriguing in certain ways, but it could turn out to be a massive stinker if Okami’s game plan is to push Souza against the weapon for 15 minutes. Though Souza is a handsome grappler in his own right, he’s smaller than Okami and could have problems with his size if Okami’s strategy is to simply wall-and-stall, he tends to perform in nearly all his fights. But if the grappling neutralizes every other and the fight becomes a stand-up conflict then it is much more likely the Souza wins. The Brazilian’s hands have gotten much better lately and although Okami is a nice striker in his own right, his chin is quite suspect at this point of his profession and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Souza won the battle via TKO. The fight will be nearer than the public believes, as I am sure they’ll be over Souza. As such, I expect”Jacare” to start at about -200 with all the comeback on Okami being +150. I do prefer Souza marginally because he does have the striking advantage but if the line reaches the +200 markers for Okami the bet may be on him. It is a close fight though and the ideal play could just be to maneuver it altogether unless the lineup holds absurd value for man. Koch vs. Poirier Added to UFC 164 According to MMAweekly.com, a featherweight lean between Erik Koch and Dustin Poirier has been added to the upcoming UFC 164 card, which takes place August 31 at Bradley Center in Milwaukee, WI, which is the town Koch stands from. This is an exceptional matchup between two men hovering around the top 10 of the UFC featherweight division and I expect it to become closely contested, so much so I see the opening betting line being about a Select’em of -115 for every fighter. Though Koch gets the edge that is striking, Poirier gets the grappling advantage and as Koch revealed in his final fight against Ricardo Lamas, he’s definitely vulnerable to being put on his spine. But if he can keep the fight standing that he has an excellent chance of knocking”The Diamond” out. I really don’t have a lean either way yet within this fight and my bet will likely depend on where the gambling public takes the line. Thales Leites Returns to UFC Former UFC middleweight title challenger Thales Leites is returning to the UFC after winning six of his last seven fights since being cut by the promotion following back-to-back losses to Anderson Silva in UFC 97 and Alessio Sakara in UFC 101. The information was reported now by Sportv.Globo.com. Even though a lot of people are amazed by Leites returning, I am not. Leites is actually an extremely solid middleweight fighter and in my view he must have never been published in the first place because losing to Silva was a automatic reduction on his record and also the judges absolutely robbed him against Sakara. There has been no competition named yet for Leites in his return but expect him to compete on the UFC 163 card against one of the division’s lower-end fighters, perhaps someone from TUF 17.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links and MMA Odds Breaker will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on the hyperlinks.
See more: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=101295297932890&id=100041572592637