Ronda Rousey is less than a week away from the shortest turnaround in a title bout since Jon Jones went from beating Ryan Bader to taking the light heavyweight title away from “Shogun” Rua in a span of 42 days. Rousey has taken an extended vacation, as her fights will be a massive 56 days out from one another. In the modern UFC, any fighter competing in such quick succession is admirable, but when it is a champion performing the feat, that is truly impressive. Rousey and Sara McMann will also be making history as this will mark the first time olympic medallists have competed against each other in the UFC (although it has happened numerous times in other promotions). That will have to be enough to draw fans in however, as beyond the women’s bantamweight title fight there isn’t much support on this card after Daniel Cormier’s bout against Rashad Evans fell apart. The line for Rousey and McMann, Cormier and his new opponent Pat Cummins, as well as the other main card fights were released here at MMA Oddsbreaker late last week. One preliminary line was included in that set of odds, but the rest of what seems to be an AXS TV all-star card have yet to see prices set. Now MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas is set to release the remaining lines for UFC 170 at Several Bookmakers. Take a look: ——————– MAIN CARD (PPV, 10pm ET) Ronda Rousey -705 Sara McMann +435 Daniel Cormier -1125 Pat Cummins +575 Rory MacDonald -215 Demian Maia +165 Mike Pyle -165 TJ Waldburger +125 Stephen Thompson -130 Robert Whittaker -110 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (Fox Sports 1, 8pm ET) Alexis Davis -185 Jessica Eye +145 Raphael Assuncao -230 Pedro Munhoz +170 Aljamain Sterling -305 Cody Gibson +225 Zach Makovsky -210 Josh Sampo +160 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 7pm ET) Erik Koch -400 Rafaello Oliveira +280 Yosdenis Cedeno -230 Ernest Chavez +170 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: RFA bantamweight champion Pedro Munhoz finally makes his way to the UFC, and it’s fair to say he’s got a bit of hype behind him. Since long betting odds have created so much discussion around this card, it should be noted that Munhoz closed at -2300 for his last fight against Billy Daniels. You don’t get odds that long unless people believe in you. That’s why, despite being a late replacement for this fight, Munhoz isn’t a massive underdog against a top 10 bantamweight. Still, I see Raphael Assuncao being a better version of Munhoz at this point. His striking is a bit more crisp, while his wrestling and grappling are a level above Munhoz’s. Factor in the short notice for Munhoz, and while taking this fight on short notice is a great way to get into the UFC, I doubt it’s going to be conducive to winning his debut. Two more bantamweights make their debuts on this card as well, as CFFC champion Aljamain Sterling takes on Cody Gibson, who has made his way up through the west coast scene. Gibson has a bit of a size advantage here, but everything else swings in Sterling’s favor. I expect Sterling to get this to the ground, transition to the back (something he is very good at), and sink in the rear-naked choke within two rounds. Back to AXS TV for the next flyweight bout, as former RFA and Bellator champion Zach Makovsky and CFA champion Josh Sampo square off in a bout with a surprising title implications. Sampo’s style is very wrestling heavy, and even though Makovsky can be susceptible to takedowns, his scrambling is better than Sampo’s, and his striking is much improved as we saw against Scott Jorgensen. I’m thinking we see a competitive decision here, but the edge should belong to Makovsky. I don’t see either of the fight pass prelims being overly competitive. The UFC wants to get Erik Koch back on the right track, and Rafaello Oliveira is the perfect opponent to do so. Oliveira doesn’t have the striking to compete with Koch or the wrestling to get him down, and this is probably the last UFC appearance for Rafaello. The opening matchup between Yosdenis Cedeno and Ernest Chavez is very similar in that Cedeno has a striking advantage and the takedown defense to put it into effect. I can see why Chavez got the call from Joe Silva, because he’s got talent, but unless I’m seriously missing something this looks like a bad style matchup for him. As far as bets, I like the main card of UFC 170 much better than the undercard. If some money comes in on Sampo, Makovsky could be worth a straight play, but other than that you’re going to have to pay some significant juice and probably rely on some fighters making their UFC debuts to get a decent return, and that’s not always a comfortable place.
