TUF 24 Finale Date: December 3, 2016 Arena: The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort City: Las Vegas, NV The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is back at The Pearl at Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas for The Ultimate Fighter Season 24 Finale. The 12-fight card is scheduled to kick off with preliminary action on UFC Fight Pass at 7pm, and prelims will continue on FOX Sports 1 at 8pm and culminate with the main card on the same channel at 10pm. If interested in wagering on these plays, or any plays for this fight card, all betting lines will be made available at Several Bookmakers. Here are my live dogs: Middleweight bout: Gray Maynard (-115) vs Ryan Hall (-105) Gabe’s Thoughts: Maynard will have a striking advantage heading into this his second fight in the UFC’s 145-pound division, after defeating Brazil’s Fernando Bruno via unanimous decision in his first drop to featherweight. Hall takes on Maynard coming off his TUF 22 Finale win over Artem Lobov and looks to make it two straight for himself inside the Octagon by earning the biggest victory of his mixed martial arts career. While Maynard is a very good wrestle, he will be at a general grappling disadvantage in this bout, as Hall is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace who will be a high risk submission threat should this fight hit the mat. Over the course of 15 minutes, I like Hall’s chances of either securing a submission or taking Maynard’s back and controlling him for the majority of two out of three rounds for a decision victory on the judges’ scorecards. If Hall is to live up to his hype and prove that he has a future in the UFC, he would need to get past Maynard in this “gatekeeper” match-up, and I think he gets the job done. Gabe’s Call: Hall by Submission (modified guillotine choke, 2:03 round 3) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Hall (-105) 2.1u to win 2u Bantamweight bout: Rob Font (-250) vs Matt Schnell (+220) Gabe’s Thoughts: Font will have advantages in size and boxing heading into this bout against Schnell, who is stepping up on short notice for an injured Alejandro Perez. Schnell was a the Legacy FC flyweight champion who competed on TUF 24 until losing to Tim Elliott by submission. He now gets a short notice opportunity to pick up his first UFC victory up one weight class in the bantamweight division. I agree with Font being the betting favorite in this contest, however I do not agree with his current offering price of -250. I think Schnell should be a +160 to +180 betting underdog in this contest, so I see a bit of value in him at his current asking price of +220 and figure it’s worth a stab. Gabe’s Call: Font by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Schnell (+220) .5u to win 1.1u
