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UFC 88: Breakthrough Wagering, Betting Lines and UFC Sports Betting
UFC 88: Breakthrough
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Chuck Liddell (-285) vs. Rashad Evans (+225)by
Stan Leung |
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UFC 88 Breakthrough UFC Light heavyweight Fight: Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans Has Rashad Sugar Evans (13-0-1) improved enough to take on top level competition? At UFC 88: Breakthrough this will be the biggest test of his young mixed martial arts career as he takes on the legend Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell (21-5). The sports betting community is not giving Evans much of a chance as he is huge UFC betting underdog at +225 with the UFC betting lines favoring The Iceman at -285. This MMA fight was suppose to happen at UFC 85 as Evans was a replacement for the injured Mauricio Shogun Rua, however, Chuck Liddell had to pull out of the event due to an injured hamstring. So is Chuck Liddell fully healed from his injuries? After five months of rehab Liddell will be fully healed. The next question that many have asked is if Liddell is still a top level fighter at 205? Well he proved his critics wrong by beating Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79: Nemesis after a disappointing loss to Keith Jardine at UFC 76: Knockout. The problem with this fight is that Rashad Evans does not have the striking power to stand up and trade punches with Liddell. Evans has worked on his striking but to trade punches with probably one of the best strikers in the UFC will be a daunting task. Rashad Evans is a wrestler by nature, but does he have the wrestling to take down Liddell? The simple answer is no. If such great wrestlers like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and Kevin Randleman could not take him down what chance does Evans has. Also Liddell has beaten top level grapplers like Vitor Belfort at UFC 37.5: As Real As It Gets and Renato Sobral at UFC 62: Liddell vs. Sobral and Rashad is not where near as good a striker as any of them. Fighting Chuck Liddell is very very tough. He imposes his game plan on his fights and stalks and corners his opponents before he unleashes his wide looping and unorthodox punches. He has taken out top level striker strikers like Wanderlei Silva, Alistair Overeem at PRIDE Total Elimination 2003, and Randy Couture who are much better strikers than Rashad Evans. Many fighters have tried to take Liddell down and the result has always remained the same. The fight always stays standing and Liddell punches his way to victory. Liddell is one of the best fighters in the world at cornering his opponent and trapping them before he strikes. He is also very good at counter punching and is very dangerous when he is backing up and punching. Many fighters will try to follow Liddell as he is backing up and that’s when he usually hurts his opponents. Rashad is a wrestler, the type which Chuck destroys on the regular basis. I have not been impressed with Rashad's striking and when he can't get the takedown, he's going to have issues. He striking is very jerky as he is constantly moving his hands. Usually this is a sign that that he does not know what or when to throw his hands. I don’t see how Evans can really hurt Liddell in this fight. He is one of the most improves fighters in as he has been training with the great MMA camp at Jackson's Submission Fighting with the likes of Georges St. Pierre, Keith Jardine, Denis Kang and Nate Marquardt. He has been helping GSP train for both his matches with Matt Serra and Jon Fitch but how will he train for his own personal fight. The fact that Evans is going to have a good training camp under the instruction of Greg Jackson in New Mexico means he will be well prepared for this fight. Greg Jackson will have a great game plan and fight strategy going into this fight but planning to fight Chuck Liddell and actually acting on it are two different stories. Bottom Line: As a UFC bettor the odds are just a little too steep to wager on Liddell at -285. If you want to wager on Liddell he will win this fight but there are much better UFC bets to lay your money on to get a better betting return. As a wager I would lay my money on a UFC prop bet for this fight to go the distance. Rashad Evans is a very game fighter with good cardio and will be well coached by Greg Jackson. Evans will stick and move in and outside of Liddell range. He will try to slow play and slow down the fight and not be drawn into a striking match with Chuck. He will try to shoot in from time to time but this will be a very boring fight as he will not engage with Liddell, but instead will look for a takedown. I see Liddell landing the heavyier shots in this fight but he will be basically trying to chase down Evans for three rounds. So the best bet to make for this fight is a UFC prop bet for the fight to go the distance and for Liddell to win a very lack luster fight in the process. Many online sports betting sites do not have UFC prop bets as a part of their online betting lines but 5 Dimes does. Right now the UFC prop bets have not been put out but keep checking 5 Dimes to place a UFC prop on the fight to go the distance and for Chuck Liddell to win by decision. Wagering on these two proposition bets to go the distance will probably be +400 and for Liddell to win by decision the lines will open at around +500 to +600. For the best payout this is the best online bet to wager on. But if you do not want to make a UFC prop bet bet in the moneyline. Look for Liddell to win a three round boring decision over Sugar EvansBet on the UFC at Bookmaker.com - Where The UFC Line Originates |
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