UFC 104 betting lines: Machida -450, Rua +325<\/p>\n
A year ago, Lyoto \u201cThe Dragon\u201d Machida\u2019s role in the UFC was unclear; we knew he was a phenomenal fighter, especially on the defensive end, but many fans found him \u201cboring.\u201d Since then, he\u2019s viciously knocked out two undefeated fighters, Thiago Silva and now ex-champion Rashad Evans. Still think he\u2019s boring? If anyone still thinks so, Saturday should change that opinion once and for all.<\/p>\n
The reason: few fighters are as aggressive as challenger Mauricio Rua. \u201cShogun\u201d has devastating power in his Muay Thai knees, kicks and punch combinations. Of his 18 wins, 15 are knockouts and two are submissions. The guy loves to finish fights and will go for broke against Machida, forcing the champion to act.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for Shogun, his exciting style may play right into Machida\u2019s hands. Statistically, Machida is the toughest fighter to hit in the UFC today. The one truly successful Karate practitioner of the sport, he uses his upright stance to stay out of his opponents\u2019 striking range. He frustrates them, forces them to lunge at him, then explodes with counter attacks. That should be his game plan against the overaggressive Shogun and should be the key to him retaining the light heavyweight belt.<\/p>\n
Online betting pick: Machida -450<\/p>\n
Heavyweight bout: Cain Velazquez (6-0) vs Ben Rothwell (30-6)<\/strong><\/p>\n UFC 104 betting lines: Velazquez -300, Rothwell +240<\/p>\n Cain Velazquez may be the Mark Sanchez of MMA \u2013 thought to be the next big thing by some but considered extremely overhyped and inexperienced by others. Though he was a win away from a title shot against Brock Lesnar until Shane Carwin got bumped up to No. 1 contender status, Velazquez may be better off facing Rothwell, who is a solid intermediate challenge for him.<\/p>\n Ben Rothwell is no pushover; he\u2019s a big, heavy-handed fighter who has battled high-end heavyweights like Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski. Rothwell is very well-rounded, combining his punching power with solid wrestling and submission skills. Velazquez, a wrestler first and a kickboxer second, will have his work cut out for him trying to budge the 265 pounds-plus Rothwell on the ground.<\/p>\n I think Velazquez is up to the task. He\u2019s an excellent technical wrestler thanks to his background at Arizona State and he already showed that he can manhandle a much bigger man when he beat Cheick Kongo at UFC 99. Though Rothwell has dangerous hands, Velazquez also showed against Kongo that he can really take a punch \u2013 or three. Most importantly, Velazquez\u2019s personality doesn\u2019t fit the \u201coverhyped\u201d label; he\u2019s a tireless worker, never satisfied with his performance and always looking to improve. I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll underestimate Rothwell.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t expect an easy fight by any means, but Velazquez will prevail \u2013 just like the Phillies\u2019 World Series betting hopes.<\/p>\n Online betting pick: Velazquez -300<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UFC gambling is back on the sportsbook radar this month and BetOnline has all the lines for UFC 104…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1436],"tags":[18822,16600,9859,9709,16601,18823,18824,18827,18828,18829,18830,18826,18825],"class_list":["post-14714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fight-club","tag-bet-on-ufc-104","tag-bet-online-odds","tag-bet-online-sportsbook","tag-betonlinecom","tag-betonlinecom-sportsbook-preview","tag-machida-vs-rua-odds","tag-machida-vs-rua-santos","tag-ufc-104","tag-ufc-104-betting","tag-ufc-104-odds","tag-ufc-104-picks","tag-velazquez-vs-rothwell","tag-velazquez-vs-rothwell-odds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14714"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109625,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14714\/revisions\/109625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}