The UFC continued to announce new matchups over the last 24 hours or so, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my quick thoughts on all of them. Andy Ogle vs. Maximo Blanco, UFC Fight Night 41 Featherweights Andy Ogle and Maximo Blanco will square off at UFC Fight Night 41 in Berlin on May 31. WIth both men coming off of losses, this is definitely each fighter’s last chance to stay in the UFC. If you asked me last year who I would have picked here I would have said Blanco for sure, but he’s looked absolutely terrible in his last few UFC fights and at this point he can’t be trusted. That being said, Ogle just isn’t that great of a fighter and it’s hard to put cash on him. I think that Blanco, despite all his flaws, will be a slight favorite here, perhaps around -185 or so, but I would recommend passing on laying juice on a fighter who routinely finds himself flagged for fouling his opponents. Tom Niinimaki vs. Thiago Tavares, UFC Fight Night 41 A featherweight bout between grapplers Tom Niinimaki and Thiago Tavares was also added to UFC Fight Night 41. This is a solid 145lb tilt between two men coming off of impressive wins, and I definitely expect the winner to take a step forward at featherweight when it’s all said and done. This is a competitive fight but I kind of lean towards Niinimaki because Tavares will have to travel all the way from Brazil for this fight while Niinimaki is already in Europe, and also because Tavares has yet to make the cut to 145lbs. Tavares is a veteran and can’t be written off obviously, but I think Niinimaki has a few slight edges here and I see him opening as a very slight favorite, perhaps like -125 to -115 for Tavares. Ruslan Magomedov vs. Viktor Pesta, UFC Fight Night 41 A heavyweight bout between Rusland Magomedov and Viktor Pesta, two UFC newcomers, was also added to UFC Fight Night 41. This is an interesting bout between two heavyweight prospects, and whoever wins this will definitely pick up some buzz in the world of MMA. I don’t know much about either fighter but I have heard good things about both. There seems to be more of a following behind Magomedov so it wouldn’t surprise me if he was favored here, though, but I can’t say for sure. Anthony Hamilton vs. Oleksiy Oliynyk, UFC Fight Night 44 And finally, a heavyweight match pitting Anthony Hamilton against Oleksiy Oliynyk has been added to UFC Fight Night 44 in San Antonio, It’s the UFC debut for both men, and in a shallow heavyweight division, a win here would immediately shoot the victor up the rankings This is a pretty good fight and I need to think about it more before deciding who I really like here but my early slight lean is the veteran Oliynyk, who has much more experience and who has fought a higher level of competition than Hamilton. That being said, Hamilton has a lot of power and if he connects with Oliynyk’s chin he could put him out. Still, I see Oliynyk opening as a slight favorite here.
