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Affliction 2: Day of Reckoning Wagering, Betting Lines and UFC Sports Betting
Affliction 2: Day of Reckoning
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Renato “Babalu” Sobral (-160) vs. Rameau Thierry “The African Assassin”Sokoudjou (+130)by
Jake Thompson |
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Affliction 2: Day of Reckoning Light Heavyweight Bout: Renato Sobral vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou The best underdog bet of the night is going to be in the fight between Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Rameau Thierry “The African Assassin” Sokoudjou in what should be a fun fight that likely won’t make it to the judge’s scorecards. Sobral is a submission fighter with a 31-7 record who has 16 submission victories to go along with 12 decision victories. His notable wins have come against the likes of Travis Wiuff, Jeremy Horn, Mauricio Rua, and Elvis Sinosic and this guy is no joke on the ground. Sobral has a black belt from Carlos Gracie Junior and this is a guy who can compete with anyone in the world when it comes to submission grappling. For all the ground skills that “Babalu” has, he also has a problem with the standup game with 3 of his 7 losses coming from knockout or technical knockout and he has been put to sleep on the feet by the likes of Chuck Liddell twice and Jason Lambert. Although he showed improved standup in his last Affliction fight against Mike Whitehead, a bout that he won with a unanimous decision, the fact of the matter is that if Sobral can’t get you down and you are a strong puncher, it will likely end bad for the Brazilian. He’ll have a strong test in “The African Assassin” who has a 5-3 mixed martial arts record with all 2 of those losses coming by knockout and 1 by submission. 4 of his 5 wins have been by knockout and he holds KO victories over Ricardo Arona, Kaz Nakamura, and Antonio Rogerio Nogeuira. This is an aggressive fighter who relies on his power striking to end the fights but that’s not all there is to Sokoudjou at all. On top of his violent striking capabilities, he is also a judo champion who captured the 2001 Open Judo Championship and has shown capable ground skills that are only getting better thanks to the strong wrestling/submission skills of his Team Quest teammates. You have to be a strong, aggressive striker to take advantage of “The African Assassin’s” over-aggressive striker and “Babalu” is simply not that. He has never really shown knockout power so if he wants to take this fight, Sobral will have to be able to take down Sokoudjou which is not an easy task. Showing incredible balance and athleticism in his short fight career, Sokoudjou is very tough to get to the mat and this fight hinges on whether or not you think Sobral will be able to get his opponent down. If not, it will likely be lights out for “Babalu” before the final bell rings. Betting Wise: Sobral is the favored fighter at 5Dimes.com by a betting line of -155 with Sokoudjou at +135 and those are some incredible underdog odds for this event. Likely the best bet on the board considering “The African Assassin” should be a slight favorite; you’ll want to make one of your biggest bets of the night on the younger, more athletic, better striking fighter. Bottom Line: Sobral has never shown incredible takedown skills and if Sokoudjou can avoid trying to takedown the Brazilian or jumping on top of him to finish the fight, this could be an easy victory for the underdog here. You should look for Sobral to test his skills in the standup game for the first minute or so before going in for a takedown that gets easily stuffed. That takedown stuffing will be a recurring theme in this fight as “Babalu” will not want anything to do with the knockout power on the feet that the “African Assassin” possesses. Sometime, likely in the 1st or 2nd round, one of the power shots from Sokoudjou will find its mark and it’s going to be lights out for “Babalu” This is just a bad matchup for Sobral against a fighter perfectly suited to exploit what he can doBet on the UFC at Bookmaker.com - Where The UFC Line Originates |
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