The 117th Fight Night UFC betting event will be headlined by Ovince Saint Preux vs. Yushin Okami, the latter being for the injured Maurício Rua, whom OSP was expected to face in a rematch from their 2014 bout. Saint Preux snapped a three-fight skid with a win over Marcos Rogério de Lima at UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Lobov on April 22nd in Nashville, Tennessee. OSP made de Lima tap out with the Von Flue choke – believed to have been invented by Saint Niklaus von Flüe, which he reportedly applied with the assistance of a rosary.
- UFC Fight Night: Saint Preux vs. Okami
- Promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Date: September 23, 2017
- Venue: Saitama Super Arena
- City: Saitama, Japan
Online sportsbook odds for fans who bet on UFC:
Yushin Okami 1½ (-160) +400
Ovince Saint Preux 1½ (+140) -500
Okami will, on the other hand, make his moderately awaited return to UFC after four years, during which period he plied his trade mostly in, among other small-time promotions, World Series of Fighting. Okami compiled a 13-5 record as middleweight in the UFC, and challenged, unsuccessfully, then-division champion Anderson Silva in 2011. The Japanese Judoka was, in fact, preparing for a middleweight fight when he got that call to replace Rua, which he immediately accepted.
Other UFC betting matchups on the card include the following:
Cláudia Gadelha vs. Jéssica Andrade
- Weight: Straw
- Odds:
Jessica Andrade 2½ (-200) +230
Claudia Gadelha – 2½ (+170) -270
Claudinha is coming off back-to-back wins, against Cortney Casey at UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. Nogueira 2 on November 19, 2016 in Sao Paulo and Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 212 on June 3, 2017 in Rio, thus improving her UFC record to 4-2.
Andrade had a three-fight winning streak ended by Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 211 on May 13th in Dallas, Texas.
Takanori Gomi vs. Dong Hyun Kim
- Weight: Light
- Odds:
Takanori Gomi 1½ (+155) +250
Dong Hyun Kim 1½ (-175) -300
Gomi has been, in UFC, what is called in wrestling a jobber, with a 4-8 record since 2010 and four straight losses since 2014, including submitting to Jon Tuck at UFC Fight Night: Holm vs. Correia on June 17th in Singapore.
“The Maestro” Hyun Kim got his first UFC win against Brendan O’Reilly at The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions Finale on December 3, 2016 in Las Vegas.
Gökhan ‘H.H. Munro’ Saki vs. Henrique da Silva
- Weight: Light Heavy
- UFC betting odds:
Henrique Da Silva – 1½ (+155) +145
Gokhan Saki – 1½ (-175) -165
Saki, who will be making, after almost 15 years of experience as a kickboxer, his UFC promotional debut, had his heretofore single tryst with MMA in 2004, when he lost to James Zikic at Cage Fighting Championships 1: Cage Carnage in Liverpool.
I'm ready. Are you? #ufc @ufc @UFCEurope pic.twitter.com/y6RnttJkE9
— Gökhan Saki (@gokhantherebel) September 19, 2017
Da Silva, who arrived at UFC undefeated in 12 fights, and won his first two promotional bouts, has lost his last three straight, including a loss to Ion Cuțelaba at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Hunt on June 11th in New Zealand.