Jimi Manuwa vs. Corey Anderson UFC betting preview
Weight class: Light Heavyweight
Odds for fans who bet on UFC:
Corey Anderson – 1½ (-155) +125
Jimi Manuwa – 1½ (+135) -145
Jimi ‘Poster Boy’ Manuwa made a name for himself in the UK-based promotion Ultimate Challenge MMA, where he went 10-0 including five successful UCMMA Light Heavyweight Championship defenses. Manuwa won his first three fights in UFC but has gone 2-2 since – though he is coming off a Performance of the Night win over Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 204 on October 8, 2016. Manuwa is of the Vitor Belfort school of thought, never having turned down a fight and losing respect for those who do. Meanwhile, Anderson told Flo Combat that he will “dominate” the fight whether it “take(s) place in an alley, in a dumpster, in a bathroom, in the gym, in a cage or wherever he wants to go.” How about the caged-off trailer of an 18-wheeler truck?
Gunnar Nelson vs. Alan Jouban UFC betting preview
Weight class: Welterweight
Odds for fans who bet on UFC:
Alan Jouban – 1½ (-200) +290
Gunnar Nelson – 1½ (+170) -350
Nelson is a veritable submission machine. Nine out his last 10 wins have come via that time-honored tradition of making your opponent say uncle. According to MMA Junkie, however, Jouban is “not afraid” of Nelson’s grappling. Brahma has won his last three straight matches to improve his record to 15-4. Nine of those 15 wins have been by KO. “You look at [Nelson’s] record, and 90 percent of his wins are from submission and probably 90 percent are rear-naked chokes,” Jouban told MMAjunkie Radio. “You look at my record, 90 percent of my wins are from striking, 90 percent of my wins are from knockout.” In other words, it is the classic grapple vs. striker scenario – shades of Inoki vs. Ali.
Brad Pickett vs. Marlon Vera UFC betting preview
Weight class: Bantamweight
Odds for fans who bet on UFC:
Marlon Vera – 2½ (-175) +120
Brad Pickett – 2½ (+155) -140
This will be Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett’s swansong following a 14-year MMA career. The London journeyman had a nine-fight winning streak in the late 2000s, during which he won the Ultimate Challenge UK Featherweight Championship. Ironically – but only in the Alanis Morisette way – he beat Vaughan Lee on 18 August, 2007 and never tasted defeat again until the exact same date three years later on 18 August, 2010. Pickett was a late arrival to UFC and his record shows it; he is 5-8 in the American promotion, including five losses in his last six bouts. And speaking of faux irony, Vera grew up watching guys like Pickett in his native Ecuador. “I remember being 17 years old watching [Pickett’s] fight against Demetrious Johnson in the WEC,” Vera told MMAjunkie, and now he’s “going to win this fight and he’s going to retire.”