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Nov 11, 2009 - 2:54:14 PM By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist **UPDATE** The betting lines are now included.
The November MMA beat goes on this Saturday as the UFC brings us UFC 105 live (via tape delay) on SpikeTV from Manchester, England. We get it for free in an attempt by the UFC to save some fight fans some money while boxing asks people to plop down the big bucks for Cotto-Pacquiao. The card isn't the best I've ever seen, but its headlined by Randy Couture and also features the first post-TUF fights for last season's winners Ross Pearson and James Wilks. And did I mention its free? Cause that remains its strongest selling point.
At UFC 104, Scott Hart retained his betting title, but lost the prediction belt to Rich Boles. They'll both defend their titles Saturday against Mikey Fritz, who blitzed everyone in both pools last contest. Add to that the fact that Jonah Goodman and Kubi are now walking around carrying briefcases with guaranteed title shots in them and UFC 105 could be a fun day here at the Torch. We had a great turnout for the Strikeforce betting contest last week so here's hoping all the newcomers stick around this week. Without further ado, let's take a look at the lineup.
PREDICTION CONTEST:
I'm pretty sure everyone knows how this works by now, but just in case...Basically you pick the winners of each fight, including method (e.g. KO, submission, decision) and round. The winner is the one who picks the most fights correctly. Ties will be broken by who had the most number of rounds and methods correctly predicted. In case anyone is wondering, only rounds and methods in fights where you predicted the correct winner count.
Randy Couture (-120) vs. Brandon Vera (-110)
Mike Swick (-225) vs. Dan Hardy (+185)
Michael Bisping (-105) vs. Denis Kang (-125)
James Wilks (+138) vs. Matt Brown (-168)
Ross Pearson (+165) vs. Aaron Riley (-205)
Terry Etim (-325) vs. Shannon Gugerty (+265)
Paul Taylor (+210) vs. John Hathaway (-260)
Matt Riddle (-325) vs. Nick Osipczak (+265)
Paul Kelly (-320) vs. Dennis Siver (+260)
Alexander Gustafsson (+110) vs. Jared Hamman (-140)
Andre Winner (-325) vs. Roli Delgado (+265)
BETTING CONTEST:
As you can see, there's a number attached to each fighter. That number represents how much money you can make off each fighter. The way it works is, if a fighter has a positive number he's an underdog. The positive number means if you were to bet $100 dollars on him, you would make the amount of the positive number. For example, if you were to bet $100 on Hardy and he won, you would make back the hundred you bet, plus $185 for a total payout of $285.
If the fighter has a negative number, that number represents how much you would have to bet to make $100 on the fighter. For example, if you bet $225 on Swick and he won, you'd make back the $225, plus a $100 profit, for a total payout of $325.
Each contestant has $1000 in theoretical money. You can bet it on as many fighters as you'd like, but you have to bet on at least three. The most you can bet on a single fighter is $500, and bets have to be in multiples of $100.
I'm setting a deadline of 12p.m. (EST) Saturday to get all your picks in since its a UK card and that's about when the prelims will get underway. The lines are courtesy of betonfighting.com.
Note: In the event that one of the #1 contenders fails to show for their title shot, the champ will defend against the next best performer from the previous contest (which would be me this time). You've been warned, so bring your A game everybody!
As always you can submit your picks one of three ways: by emailing me at matt6buckeye@hotmail.com, posting them on the message boards, or by leaving them in the comments section right down there. Again, good luck.
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