Understanding UFC and MMA Betting Lines from http://www.betwwx.com/ufc-odds/
Here is an explanation of how the UFC odds or betting line work. When you bet on a UFC fight, you bet on a money line not a point spread like basketball for example. You only bet on the winner of the fight. Below is a typical mixed martial arts betting line you would see in a Vegas sportsbook.
Fighter A -200 Fighter B +200
Two fighters are listed above. The fighter with the negative number next to his name (i.e. -200) is always the favorite while the fighter with the positive figure is the underdog. For Fighter A, the negative figure is the amount of money you need to bet on this fighter in order to earn $100. The positive figure next to Fighter B on the other hand is the profit you would earn if the you bet $100 on that fighter. You’re not required bet $100 but you simply use that ratio given by the betting line to figure out the returns.
The UFC betting line is not static, meaning it can change at any time for a number of reasons. A lot of money coming in for a particular fighter for example will force the sports books to adjust his line. However unlike horse racing once you’ve place your bet, your odds or payout don’t change. You’re bet is secure no matter where or when you wager was placed. These same rules apply to both Vegas sportsbooks and online bookmakers like Bodog or Betus.
UFC Fight Night from BETUS.com Fight Lines Wed, Apr 01, 2009 EST
Welterweight 101 Martin Kampmann -115 102 Carlos Condit -115
Light Heavyweight 107 Carmelo Marrero +325 108 Ryan Bader -450
Lightweight 110 Cole Miller -140 111 Junie Browning +110
Lightweight 113 Rafael Dos Anjos +350 114 Tyson Griffin -500
UFC Fight Night 18: Condit vs. Kampmann Date: Apr 01, 2009 Location: Nashville, Tenn. Venue: Sommet Center Broadcast: Spike TV
MAIN CARD (Televised) Carlos Condit vs. Martin Kampmann Ryan Bader vs. Carmelo Marrero Rafael dos Anjos vs. Tyson Griffin Junie Browning vs. Cole Miller
PRELIMINARY CARD (Un-televised) Jeremy Stephens vs. Gleison Tibau Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Horwich Brock Larson vs. Jesse Sanders Nick Catone vs. Tim Credeur Nissen Osterneck vs. Jorge Rivera Rob Kimmons vs. Joe Vedepo Tim McKenzie vs. Aaron Simpson Ryan Jensen vs. Steve Steinbeiss
Finally, a news story about BJ "The Prodigy" Penn (13-5-1 MMA, 9-4-1 UFC) that doesn't involve vaseline or NSAC testimony. BJ Penn has announced through his website, that he plans on signing a fight contract to defend his Lightweight belt against TUF alumni Kenny Florian (11-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) at UFC 101 Aug. 8 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.
Ever since his mega fight with George St. Pierre, BJ Penn has been at center of the greasegate controversy drawing a lot of criticism from hardcore MMA fans. BJ, seems ready to put that behind him for now and concentrate on defending his title against the much improved Florian.
While BJ Penn was moving up to chase his Welterweight ambitions Kenny Florian has put together an impressive six fight win streak and has climbed to the top of a very competitive Lightweight division. Florian, is excited to be back in title contention after losing to Sean Sherk for the interim Lightweight title at UFC 64 "It has been a long road back and I am very grateful for the opportunity. Rarely does one get the chance to fight for a championship belt in the UFC and it's even more infrequent to fight a legend".
For both men, UFC 101 will be a chance at redemption. Penn, needs to remind people why he is one of the P4P best fighters in the world regardless of an athletic commissions decision. Florian, who has always been underrated has a chance to prove that he has become an elite fighter and a win over BJ Penn, will solidify a place at the table amongst the best.
Here is the unedited post from BJ Penn's official website about his decision to fight Kenny Florian at UFC 101.
UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn is set to defend his lightweight title against number one contender Kenny Florian. The newly agreed upon match is set to Headline UFC 101 in Philadelphia, PA on August 8th 2009.
The Challenger, Kenny "Kenflo" Florian, is currently riding a six fight win streak inside the octagon. Most recently dispatching Joe Stevenson via RNC in round 1 at UFC 91. Florian has made it no secret that he desires his second shot at the lightweight title. Most recently stating on ESPNS MMA Live,
"At the end of the day, I just want this fight to be signed. Let's get an event, let's get a date, and let's make it happen."
The Champion, BJ "The Prodigy" Penn, has not been down to lightweight to defend his title since UFC 84, in May of 2008, when he beat Sean Sherk via TKO at the end of the third round. When I asked BJ about the upcoming bout he simply said,
"I look forward to the challenge."
According to our sources here within Team Penn, Florian has already signed the bout agreement for this fight. As for BJ, we received the bout agreement this afternoon and plan on making this fight happen.
Damon Lau, president of the MMA collectible figurine company Round 5, recently sat down with MMAjunkie.com Radio to discuss the success of the sports collectibles company.
"We've got over 35 fighters on our roster," Lau said. "We're in over 3,500 stores across North America. We have distribution in the U.K., Japan, and we should open up in France and Brazil at the end of the year".
Lau and Round 5 will not rest on their recent success.
"We're gunning for 10,000 (stores by the end of the year). Hopefully everything with the economy, if it turns out well, we'll hit that 10,000 mark. But it's safe to say we'll be in anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000 stores."
A lot of time and effort goes into making the figures as realistic as possible. Even the smallest details such as Rich Franklin's notorious pre-fight black eye and Tito Ortiz' well known large head size are discussed.
"[The fighters] get involved in every single thing," Lau said. "We sit down with them and go, 'Hey, guys. You get to create this thing in any image you want. What do you want to do?'"
"I remember telling Rich Franklin, 'How about we add a black eye, your perma-black eye on your figure?' Lau said. "He goes, 'Uh, I don't know about that.'"
"We keep revising and changing the figure until everyone is happy," Lau said. "I think that's the bottom line.
"Nothing comes out perfect the first time. It's a lot of hard work. The process of creating figurines and collectibles, it's crazy. Hundreds and hundreds of people are involved in the process."
Some fighters like Tito Ortiz, had to have unique consideration for their figures. Including, whether or not the big headed fighters figurine could support his large cranium without tipping over.
"We didn't have a hard time with that, but one thing's for sure: We actually did make the head bigger," Lau said. "We discussed it, and [Ortiz] said, 'Listen, I'm known for my big head. Make it bigger.'"
Round 5 has agreements with many of the most popular fighters in the world Ortiz, Franklin, Matt Hughes, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Anderson Silva, Sean Sherk and Wanderlei Silva, just to name a few. Right now Round 5 has 35 fighters on their roster and is looking to expand with popular names like Gina Carano and Andrei Arlovski in the works.
It's quite a surprise even to Lau the quick success that Round 5 has experienced. Lau said that the company started in an unexpected brainstorming session.
"It started in the spring of 2007," Lau said. "I own a mid-sized advertising agency based in Toronto, Canada. Just through that business we had a lot of opportunities to work with people who are athletes in MMA, one of them being Randy Couture.
"Pretty much what happened was Randy was flying into town for a promotional appearance that he had to do. He goes, 'Damon, do you want to hook up for dinner?' I said, 'Absolutely. Let's sit down and have dinner.'"
"Over dinner we're just talking about funny business ideas that we thought would be really great for the sport of MMA," Lau said. "The sport was obviously seeing such a big boom at that time, and Randy said to me, 'Wouldn't it be really great if somebody came up with plastic cauliflower ears for fans to wear at fights?'
"I thought that was hilarious, and I said to him, 'Wouldn't it be kind of neat if people came up with action figures for MMA guys?' We both sort of went, 'Hey, that's a good idea.' Randy said to me, 'If you ever decide to do anything like that, just let me know.'
"He was the first license we signed."
Round 5's third series of figurines is set to be released in May with current UFC champ Frank Mir, former champs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Andrei Arlovski, and legendary referee "Big" John McCarthy as the subjects. Plans for a fourth series are to be released in July and will include Gina Carano and Fedor Emelianenko.
One of the reasons Lau believes Round 5 has been able to attract the biggest stars in MMA is because they believe in taking care of the fighters.
"Something that's really unique about the program that we do with the fighters is that we make sure it makes sense for everybody," Lau said. "We pay probably four to five times the normal royalty amounts in the toy industry, which is obviously completely against the grain. But we feel it's great for the fighters and it's great for the fans.
"The fighters are getting compensated for the contracts they're signing. It's not just, 'Sign our contract, sign over your likeness, never see anything ever again.'"
"We give [the fighters] the ability to approve all the artwork, so they know their likeness isn't being used in a bad way," Lau said. "They actually get actively involved in all of the product development. They get to pick the pose, take a look at their faces, pick the quotes on the packaging, all that sort of stuff.
"Even beyond that, we let the fighters sell sponsorship spots on the shorts of their figurine. I think the program, moving forward, has always made sense from the very, very beginning, which is why we've gone so far in such a quick amount of time. We haven't had any problems, even today, signing licenses."
"Even today" is an important point, as the UFC's merchandising rights rules have become a hot topic in the business side of the industry over the past several months.
"The bottom line is I've never even spoken to the UFC," Lau said. "A lot of people pit [the UFC and Round 5] against each other and say that we're enemies and want to take each other's contracts. Really, I've never even spoken with them.
"I'm a really big fan of the organization, but our business model was always to work with the fighters. That's always been the direction, and thankfully enough we've been doing fantastic. The fighters all signed with us because we offer a great program."
Up until now Round 5 hasn't had to deal with direct competition but all of that will change this year when JAKKS Pacific, Inc. releases their line of official UFC figurines. JAKKS is known for their work with the WWE as well as NASCAR, But Lau is confident that Round 5 will continue to do well in the market despite the added competition.
"We know that all of our clientele is the typical person that watches MMA right now," Lau said. "So it's the 16-to-40-year-old, and the people that buy our product are going to be the people who end up putting it in their cubicle, leaving it in their collector's case, sitting it on top of the TV.
"I think JAKKS' positioning is really to create a fully articulated toy. Meanwhile for us, I would say, 'They're the toy, we're the collectible.' Do I say that children don't buy our stuff? Absolutely not. They could be buying it. But the purpose of building it was never for kids."
"Actually, probably closer to the end of this year you're going to see us launching a new product line-up, which is actually going to be a full, super-realistic style," Lau said. "We're sort of leaning more towards the collectible element, and I think JAKKS is doing something completely different."
According to FiveOuncesOfPain.com the anticipated re-match between WEC Featherweight champion Mike Brown (17-4 MMA, 3-0 WEC) and the very popular former champion Urijah "The California Kid" Faber (22-2 MMA, 7-1 WEC), will be on tap for WEC 41. The event has not been made official yet, but reports are that WEC 41 will take place June 7 at Arco Arena in Urijah's hometown of Sacramento, CA.
Faber lost his featherweight belt to Mike Brown at WEC 36 and has been anxious for a re-match ever since. Both Faber and Brown have looked great in their last bouts, with Urijah taking out MMA legend Jens "lil evil" Pulver in the first round and Mike Brown dominating challenger Leonard Garcia with punches and finally making Garcia tap in front of his hometown crowd.
Contrary to some reports, WEC 41 will not be a PPV and will air live on the Versus channel.
There is a lot of speculation going on about Affliction and their much anticipated third MMA event. Sam Caplan, from FiveOuncesofPain.com had reported earlier that Affliction was interested in a July 11th date, that would compete directly with UFC 100.
The UFC 100 event, is headlined by the much anticipated Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar re-match, as well as popular champ and p4p fighter GSP taking on devastating striker Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves. Many believe, this would be a horrible decision for Affliction to go against the UFC intentionally especially against what has been labeled as a special event by MMA fans.
Reports have been circulated that Affliction 3 could possibly be shown on a non-premium cable network rather than on PPV like previous Affliction events. This has also, been coupled with stories coming out that Fedor and Josh "The Baby Face Assassin" Barnett will both participate in the third affliction event, but perhaps not against each other.
If, the event will not be aired on PPV, some believe that it would be to expensive to pay for a Fedor vs Barnett fight and will be saved for a later show. Vitor Belfort who has been asking for a shot at the Russian WAMMA champion said about possibly fighting Fedor "The guys from (Affliction partners) M-1 want this fight, but Tom Atencio and Affliction wants to put him with Barnett, who is their big boy," Belfort said. "But I'm waiting. If this fight doesn't happen at Affliction 3, it can be on the next one."
When asked by versus.com blogger Ariel Helwani about the rumors that Affliction 3 could be the farewell event for the MMA company, COO Michael D. Cohen, responded “It’s absolutely untrue... Trump’s Affliction Entertainment is going nowhere except to the top, and the company will continue throughout 2009 and well into 2010."
UFC 2009 Undisputed coverboy will be none other than the ultimate fighter champion from season one the very popular Forrest Griffin. The Griffin vs Bonnar fight at the TUF 1 finale is still one of the most memorable fights in UFC history and helped propel the sport into the mainstream.
The highly anticipated UFC 2009 fighter roster includes over eighty of the biggest UFC stars such as, the champs for each weight class, as well as some fighters who aren't even in the UFC anymore. Some of the fighters not on the current UFC roster, but who are in the game are Mirko "Crocop" Flipovic, Andrei Arlovski, Tito Ortiz, and Tim Sylvia. Some of the coolest people in the game aren't even the fighter themselves. Several well known UFC personalities such as Bruce Buffer, Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg, The UFC ring girls, and trainers like Greg Jackson will all be in the game as well.
The official release date for UFC 2009 Undisputed is May 2009.
The full list of fighters, courtesy of GameSpot.com, can be found below (fighters who can compete in multiple weight classes are designated):
Heavyweights: Andrei Arlovski, Mark Coleman, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, Gabriel Gonzaga, Antoni Hardonk, Heath Herring, Cheick Kongo, Brock Lesnar, Justin McCully, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Eddie Sanchez, Tim Sylvia, Cain Velasquez, Brandon Vera (LH) and Fabricio Werdum
Light heavyweights: Houston Alexander, Ryan Bader*, Tim Boetsch, Stephan Bonnar, Rashad Evans, Wilson Gouveia (MW), Forrest Griffin, James Irvin, Quinton Jackson, Keith Jardine, Chuck Liddell, Lyoto Machida, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Tito Ortiz, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Thiago Silva and Wanderlei Silva
Middleweights: Ricardo Almeida, Michael Bisping (LHW), Kendall Grove, Rich Franklin (LHW), Dan Henderson (LHW), Martin Kampmann (WW), Chris Leben, Thales Leites, Jason MacDonald, Demian Maia, Nate Marquardt, Drew McFedries, Yushin Okami, Amir Sadollah (WW), Anderon Silva (LHW) and Evan Tanner
Welterweights: Thiago Alves, Matt Arroyo, Kyle Bradley, Josh Burkman, Marcus Davis, Jon Fitch, Matt Hughes, Anthony Johnson, Josh Koscheck, Chris Lytle, Karo Parisyan, Diego Sanchez, Ben Saunders, Matt Serra (LW), Georges St. Pierre and Mike Swick (MW)
Lightweights: Mark Bocek, Rich Clementi, Mac Danzig, Nathan Diaz, Frankie Edgar, Efrain Escudero*, Spencer Fisher, Kenny Florian, Hermes Franca, Tyson Griffin, Roger Huerta, Joe Lauzon, Gray Maynard, B.J. Penn (WW), Sean Sherk (WW), Joe Stevenson and Thiago Tavares
Bellator fighting is the latest MMA promotion that is throwing its hat in the ring with heavyweights like the UFC and Strikeforce promotions. The word Bellator means “Warrior” in Latin and with the recent demise of other upstart MMA leagues such as the IFL and EliteXC. That’s exactly what Bellator will have to fight like in order to carve out a chunk of the lucrative but elusive MMA money train. The UFC has shown that even in tough economic times that the right kind of MMA promotion can succeed. The question now is, does Bellator have the right formula to succeed? Or will it be just another victim on the long list of failed MMA upstarts?
There are several things that give Bellator Fighting Championship a good chance of succeeding, where others have failed before them. The focus on Spanish speaking fighters and a partnership with ESPN “Deportes” should give Bellator access to a large Spanish speaking fan base. Access to a large segment of the Spanish speaking demographic, has already gotten the attention of several big sponsors hoping to cash in on the success of Bellator Fighting Championship in the Spanish speaking world. Bellator already has two events planned for April that include tournament bouts for their Feather, Light, Welter, and Middle weight divisions.
Here is a list of reasons why? Bellator can be a success. • A solid partnership with ESPN “Deportes” which, will air events and give national exposure to Bellator fights. It could also pave the way for future programming on the sports media giant. • A blue chip sponsorship deal with Ford Motor Company, which has already signed on to back the fledgling organization and will give other sponsors the confidence to follow suit. • A future superstar in Eddie Alvarez, the exciting young top ten Lightweight is sure to make fans quickly with his lightning fast hands, rapid fire style and charismatic personality. • Instead of trying to re-invent the wheel Bellator fighting will use the same unified MMA rules that the UFC uses. Instead of relying on a gimmick, they will focus on MMA that the fans are already familiar with • Bellator will use a tournament style which many fans enjoyed from the Pride days, to showcase their fighters talents • The President of Bellator fighting is no stranger to fight promoting. Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebney has been in the fight game for over 15 years. Starting out as a manager/attorney for Oscar De La Hoya, then moving on to running boxing promotions and television programming for ESPN.
This Blog is intended to support the continued growth of MMA and to update MMA fans with the latest news & opinions.
Email your questions and comments to mmastoppage@yahoo.com
Posts
