This seems to be the weekend of mismatched title fights. Not only is Floyd Mayweather a massive favorite over Marcos Maidana again in the boxing world, but Emanuel Newton opened up as a larger than -700 favorite over Joey Beltran at Bellator 124. Not wanting to feel left out, World Series of Fighting had their 135lb champion, top 10 bantamweight Marlon Moraes, scheduled to face undefeated but overmatched Josh Hill. Hill dropped out of the bout in the weeks leading up to the event, and WSOF rescheduled the bout as a 140lb catchweight with another flameout from TUF in Cody Bollinger. Regardless of the opponent, Moraes will be expected to win – and win impressively – as despite being talented, both Bollinger and Hill are overmatched by Moraes. Much in the vein of WSOF 12, the remainder of the card features fighters who have come up through the organization, and don’t yet have the name value to really hook viewers. MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting lines for the four main card bouts on Saturday night’s WSOF 13 at Several Bookmakers today. Take a look: ——————– MAIN CARD (NBC Sports Network, 9pm ET) Marlon Moraes -585 Cody Bollinger +385 Ozzy Dugulubgov -350 Keon Caldwell +250 Timur Valiev -175 Isaiah Chapman +135 Frankie Perez -270 Tom Marcellino +190 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: Cody Bollinger has weight and cardio issues at the best of times. Against Marlon Moraes on short notice, those will likely be exacerbated (even with the catchweight), and they will likely steer Bollinger away from his best gameplan for this fight, which would be to pursue takedowns doggedly. If it stays on the feet, I’m not sure Moraes gets the stoppage like Shahbulat Shamhalaev did against Bollinger in Bellator, but he’ll punish his opponent’s legs as he always does. Keon Caldwell’s grappling deficiencies were shown very clearly in his bout with Nick Newell, and while they may not result in a submission loss here against Ozzy Dugulubgov, I think he’ll end up on his back for the better part of 15 minutes. Ozzy could be worthy of a parlay if there are any UFC, Bellator or other lines you’re looking for a pairing with. Timur Valiev is another talented striker who has transplanted himself from Russia to the US, but he’s got a bit of a stiff test against Isaiah Chapman, who is a quick fighter that could excel given the right development. I think that this fight is going to be extremely close, and the public’s heavy lean towards Valiev is a bit misplaced, and if they take the line in the same direction Chapman could be worth a small play. Frankie Perez has looked good coming up through the Ring of Combat organization, winning his first eight fights before dropping a split decision to recent UFC newcomer Chris Wade. Perez is a solid submission artist, and he faces a fellow grappler in Tom Marcellino. The problem for Marcellino is that Perez is the superior grappler, and there’s really no other way for him to approach this fight. I like Perez on points, but he’s another guy I haven’t seen enough of to feel comfortable betting.
