Coming hot off the heels of the UFC on FOX 10 card, the UFC has no time to rest as the Octagon must make its way over to New Jersey for the annual Super Bowl Saturday event. While it won’t move the needle as much as UFC 168 with the public, this card is still very intriguing to MMA fans. The Nova Uniao duo of Jose Aldo and Renan Barao will be defending their titles against Ricardo Lamas and Urijah Faber, respectively. Dynamic fights in the largest and smallest divisions should provide some excitement on the main card, and the PPV kicks off with a former WEC champion looking to regain his footing following a recent loss. The lines for all of those bouts have already been released at Several Bookmakers, but today the focus is on the preliminary action. Without a ton of name value, the UFC 169 undercard is going to rely on action to get fight fans juices flowing. With six UFC newcomers on the docket, and some well made stylistic match-ups, that should be the order of the day. Strikers John Makdessi and Chris Cariaso are the two most recognizable names on the prelims, and they will be joined by a number of Ultimate Fighter veterans and that slate of debuting fighters. Today, MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting lines for these bouts at Several Bookmakers. Take a look: ——————– MAIN CARD (Pay-Per-View, 10pm ET) UFC Bantamweight Title Renan Barao -270 Urijah Faber +190 UFC Featherweight Title Jose Aldo -600 Ricardo Lamas +400 Alistair Overeem -285 Frank Mir +205 Ali Bagautinov -125 John Lineker -115 Jamie Varner -190 Abel Trujillo +150 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (Fox Sports 1, 8pm ET) John Makdessi -190 Alan Patrick +150 Chris Cariaso -280 Danny Martinez +200 Tom Watson -170 Nick Catone +130 Al Iaquinta -210 Kevin Lee +160 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30pm ET) Clint Hester -245 Andy Enz +175 Rashid Magomedov -210 Tony Martin +160 Gasan Umalatov -165 Neil Magny +125 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: This is another card that is a bit tricky to bet, especially the main card. I do, however, like a couple spots on the undercard. Even though he’s coming off of two losses, Nick Catone can give Tom Watson some serious issues. Catone looked better at 185 than he did when he dropped down to 170, with a win over Costas Philippou and being in competitive fights with Mark Munoz and Chris Camozzi (which he was winning prior to the cut stoppage). Watson still doesn’t have particularly good takedown defense, but he can certainly hurt Catone on the feet, which is obviously the worry for anyone backing Catone. The other spot I like is Neil Magny taking on UFC newcomer Gasan Umalatov. Umalatov is primarily a grappler, but has some big holes in his game there that Magny may be able to exploit. Also, on the feet Umalatov is a bit wild, and Magny will have some significant length advantages. Some of the other UFC veterans who are taking on debuting fighters are overvalued, but it’s always tricky to bet on a fighter who hasn’t stepped inside the Octagon before, so I’ll probably end up passing those fights.
