The Russian UFC Betting Hammer didn’t get his nickname because he likes to wear oversized pants – or undersized Speedos, for that matter. The native of Nizhny Novgorod is also part Irish, and if those nationalities have anything in common is that they sure love to brawl – win, lose or draw, of which Lobov’s 13-12-1 record is perfectly exemplary. Lobov lost his first two UFC fights, including his return to the featherweight division, but rebounded with back-to-back wins over Chris Avila and Teruto Ishihara.
Cub Swanson vs. Artem Lobov UFC betting preview
Event: UFC Fight Night 108
Date: April 22, 2017
Venue: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Sportsbook odds for fans who bet on UFC:
Artem Lobov 3½ (+125) +490
Cub Swanson 3½ (-145) -680
Swanson: Cub’s most recent bout – a unanimous decision win against Doo Ho Choi – was not only deemed the Fight of the Night of December 10, 2016, but also beat Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz II for Fight of the Year. Before that, Swanson defeated Tatsuya Kawajiri and Hacran Dias, both by UD as well.
Also on the card…
Al Iaquinta vs. Diego Sanchez UFC betting preview
Weigh class: Lightweight
Odds for fans who bet on UFC:
Diego Sanchez 2½ (-150) +335
Al Iaquinta 2½ (+130) -420
Sanchez: Corazon de Leon went 2-1 in 2016, beating Jim Miller by UD at UFC 196 on March 5 in Las Vegas and Marcin Held also by UD at The Ultimate Fighter Latin America 3 Finale on November 5 in Mexico City, with a TKO loss to Joe Lauzon at UFC 200 on July 9 sandwiched in between. Those three bouts occurred after Sanchez returned to featherweight.
Iaquinta: ‘Raging’ won his last four fights in a row, but the most recent of those was more than a year ago, when he defeated Jorge Masvidal via split decision at Fight Night 63 on April 4, 2015 in Fairfax, Virginia. Iaquinta was pulled out of Fight Night 71 after two prospective opponents – Bobby Green and Gilbert Melendez – were removed from the card. Subsequently, Iaquinta declined to fight Thiago Alves due to a contractual disagreement with UFC.
Ovince Saint Preux vs. Marcos Rogério de Lima UFC betting preview
Weigh class: Light heavyweight
Odds for fans who bet on UFC:
Marcos Rogerio de Lima – 1½ (+115) +140
Ovince Saint Preux – 1½ (-135) -160
Lima: Pezão is 4-2 in UFC and is coming off a TKO win over Jeremy Kimball at UFC on Fox 23 on January 28, 2017 – though de Lima showed up 3½ pounds overweight to the bout, which was contested at catchweight.
Saint Preux: OSP is in dire need of a victory after losing four of his last five fights, including the last three in a row. In his defense, though, he was a short notice replacement to face Jon Jones for the interim light-heavyweight championship on April 23, 2016 at UFC 197 in place of the injured Daniel Cormier. Then, OSP had to fight – and lost to – a replacement for his own scheduled opponent on February 4, 2017 at UFC Fight Night 104.