UFC on FOX 5 Betting Odds
The UFC on Fox 5 is this Saturday, December 8th 2012 at the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington. The entire card is going to be aired for free this weekend with the main card starting at 8PM on FOX. The main event is the fight that everyone is looking forward to this week, but there are a couple other fights on the main card that should be interesting, as veterans take on youth.
UFC on Fox 5 Main Card Preview
Benson Henderson (17-2) is still undefeated in the UFC with a perfect 5-0 record. He’s fresh off beating Edgar twice and now he has to defend his UFC lightweight championship against Nate Diaz (16-7) who has won his L3 fights. Diaz has beaten Cerrone by decision plus Gomi and Miller by submission. His ground game has improved and his striking is still amongst the best.
Henderson has a unique style in the cage where he utilizes his kicks and athleticism. Diaz has a huge 6’’ reach advantage and he should be able to use his boxing to score points in the stand-up. Diaz lands 3.87 strikes per minute, but he’s going to have some issues consistently hitting Henderson who has great stand-up defence. Both fighters are great, but I like Diaz by decision.
Alexander Gustafsson (14-1) comes into his UFC on Fox 5 fight against Mauricio Rua (21-6) as a big favourite. Gustafsson has one loss against Phil Davis at UFC 112. Since then he has moved up the charts and has won his L5 fights.
Rua KO’ed Vera last time out, but Vera has a soft chin and that doesn’t tell us much. Rua has been inconsistent lately and my money is on the Swede to win by TKO/KO. His power will prove to be too much for Rua to handle Saturday night.
The 23-year old Canadian Rory MacDonald (13-1) is back in the cage to take on 33-year old veteran BJ Penn (16-8-2). MacDonald is going to have no problem winning as long as he doesn’t leave himself open to a TKO/KO.
Penn still has a bit of power, but apart from a KO win over Hughes, Penn hasn’t been winning fights lately. MacDonald will work his takedowns and control the fight from start to finish. Not much value on MacDonald, but using him on parlays should be safe.
Mike Swick (15-4) looked great in his 1st fight back from injury earlier this year against DaMarques Johnson at UFC on FOX 4. He’s now back on the main card at UFC on Fox 5 and will be fighting Matt Brown (15-11) who is outclassed here.
Swick is more known for his power than submission skills, but Brown is so bad against submissions that Swick could win by sub in this fight if he wants to. Swick needs to be accurate with his striking, but he should pick up his 2nd win in a row after injury.