Saturday, August 8 will see UFC 133 held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia where Rich Franklin faces Antonio Rogerio Nogueria on a card headlined by light heavyweights Rashad Evans and Phil Davis.
Franklin is a (2.490
Pinnacle Sports) underdog as the ‘Ace’ looks to continue his recent pattern of following up losses with victories. Last time out Franklin lost by decision to Forrest Griffin at UFC 126 and will face Antonio Rogerio Nogueria, who Pinnacle Sports currently have as the (1.606) favourite.
Nogueira, the 35-year-old Brazilian light heavyweight whose twin is also a UFC standout, comes off a pair of decision losses against Ryan Bader and Phil Davis.
Davis, a champion wrestler who is 9-0 in his brief MMA career, has submitted three of his last six opponents, all by different techniques.
And two of his first three wins were via strikes – it all adds up to a serious threat to Evans, who has only a single defeat on his resume, a UFC 98 loss to Lyoto Machida.
He hasn’t fought in more than a year and does so here knowing that injuries forced him to miss a title shot.
Evans is favoured here, but not by much against the powerful, sculpted Davis, who goes by the nickname Mr. Wonderful. Evans is at (1.769) while Davis, who has won five times since Evans was last in the Octagon, is priced at (2.180).
And those five victories came against solid competition, as he counts Nogueira, Brian Stann, Tim Boetsch and Alexander Gustafsson among his recent victims.
Elsewhere, Middleweight action at UFC 133 features Brazilian Vitor Belfort favoured at (1.346) against Japan’s Yoshihiro Akiyama (3.550). Both men come into the fight on the back of losses and have been disappointing in their recent UFC action.
A top lightweight battle, pits unbeaten powerful wrestler Chad Mendes (1.187) against Rani Yahya (5.500) in a battle of WEC standouts. The winner of this bout will move into title contention.
Mendes is 10-0, while Yahya has wins against Mark Hominick and Eddie Wineland on his resume.
