Prediction and Betting Contests
UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen Prediction and Betting Contests
Aug 7, 2010 - 8:10:14 AM UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen Prediction and Betting Contests

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By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist

The wait is almost over. Its been over a month since "the biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history", but we're only two days away from "the best card in recent UFC history". The loss of Thiago Silva put a minor dent in the card, but the main card has remained intact and carries an unspoken "USA vs. Brazil" theme.

All five main card bouts pit an American versus a Brazilian, and I gotta say, its not looking good for Uncle Sam. At least, that's what Vegas is telling me. The Dos Anjos-Guida and Fitch-Alves fights are more or less pick-ems, but that's the only positives for the Americans. The Brazilians are solid favorites in the other three match-ups. We'll take a closer look at the card in a minute, but first we need to see what the Torch has at stake at UFC 117.

At UFC 116, both Prediction Champ Rich "Blowtorch (hey, that's actually kind of a bad ass fighter nickname)" Hansen and Betting Champ Dom762 defended their respective titles against challenger Ryan Wankel. They move on to Saturday to face new challenges, Hansen against Cambo "Rambo" Nelson and Dom762 against Robert (he of the one name, like Madonna or Jeff). Good luck to our champions and challengers, and good luck to the rest of us in the pool vying for the next title shots. Let's take a look at that aforementioned card, shall we?


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.

Anderson Silva (-525) vs. Chael Sonnen (+350)

Jon Fitch (-120) vs. Thiago Alves (-110)

Clay Guida (-125) vs. Rafael Dos Anjos (-105)

Matt Hughes (+135) vs. Ricardo Almeida (-165)

Junior dos Santos (-325) vs. Roy Nelson (+250)

Tim Boetsch vs. Todd Brown*

Dustin Hazelett (-115) vs. Rick Story (-115)

Stefan Struve (-185) vs. Christian Morecraft (+155)

Johny Hendricks (-525) vs. Charlie Brenneman (+325)

Ben Saunders (-265) vs. Dennis Hallman (+205)

Rodney Wallace (+500) vs. Phil Davis (-800)

*No betting line is available for this fight, so it'll be off the betting board, but still be sure to send a prediction on the fight, as it'll still count in the prediction contest.

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 $250 on Nelson and he won, you would make back the hundred you bet, plus $250 for a total payout of $350.

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 $325 on Dos Santos and he won, you'd make back the $325, plus a $100 profit, for a total payout of $425.

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 6 p.m. (EST) Saturday to get all of your picks in. The betting lines are courtesy of bodog.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. 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. Good luck!