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For the first time since UFC 104, Dana White and Co. will give us a title fight for the main event at UFC 107. That still pales in comparison to the TWO title match-ups we offer here at the Torch. At UFC 106, Nick "sent from my ipod touch" Underwood captured the Prediction Title, his first championship, and Scott "The Fountain of Youth" Hart brushed aside yet another challenger to retain his Betting Title. Saturday night, Underwood puts his newly minted belt on the line against Torch Head-Honcho Jamie Penick, while Hart will take on Torch Resident Nice Guy Lane Bradford.
As always, if you're not involved in a title fight, your participation won't be for naught. Simply best the rest of the field and you'll earn a title shot at UFC 108. Good luck everyone!
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.
B.J. Penn (-285) vs. Diego Sanchez (+225)
Frank Mir (-225) vs. Cheick Kongo (+185)
Kenny Florian (-225) vs. Clay Guida (+185)
Jon Fitch (-500) vs. Mike Pierce (+325)
Paul Buentello (+105) vs. Stefan Struve (-135)
Wilson Gouveia (-125) vs. Alan Belcher (-105)
Shane Nelson (+260) vs. Matt Wiman (-340)
Johny Hendricks (-500) vs. Ricardo Funch (+325)
Rousimar Palhares (-340) vs. Lucio Linhares (+260)
DaMarques Johnson (+205) vs. Edgar Garcia (-265)
Kevin Burns (EVEN) vs. T.J. Grant (-130)
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 Guida 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 Florian 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 6p.m. (EST) Saturday to get all your picks. The lines are courtesy of Bodog.
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. 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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Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
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