UFC 180 took place tonight in Mexico City, Mexico, and overall the card was a whole lot of fun as it featured five finishes on the main card, including an absolutely brutal knockout in the main event of the evening. Overall from a betting perspective, seven favorites and four underdogs won based on the closing odds at Several Bookmakers. Here’s a quick recap for each fight. Favorites That Won In the main event of the evening, Fabricio Werdum defeated Mark Hunt via second-round TKO (knee and punches). Hunt was doing very well early on in the fight, as he hurt Werdum in the first and then took him down, and he continued to look good as he knocked him down once again in the second. Things looked to be going his way but Werdum out of nowhere landed a jumping knee that dropped Hunt and made the referee step in after Hunt stopped defending himself. It was a great knockout by Werdum, and he proved once again he’s one of the best in the world. Werdum cashed as a -430 favorite (bet $430 to win $100) while Hunt lost as a +380 underdog (bet $100 to win $380). In the co-main event of the evening, Kelvin Gastelum defeated Jake Ellenberger via first-round submission (rear-naked choke). The two fighters had a few early striking exchanges to start the fight, but it soon turned into a wrestling match. First Gastelum got the takedown, but Ellenberger was able to make his way to his feet and land a takedown of his own. However, he lost the scramble and Gastelum took his back and tapped him out very quickly, as the TUF 17 winner improved to 11-0 in MMA and 5-0 in the UFC. Gastelum cashed at -155 while Ellenberger lost at +145. In a welterweight bout, Augusto “Dodger” Montano defeated Chris Heatherly via first-round TKO (knees). After a competitive first few minutes to start the fight, Heatherly gassed and “Dodger” unloaded a barrage of knee strikes on a tired Heatherly against the fence and the referee was forced to step in and stop the fight. Montano was -255 while Heatherly was +235. In the TUF Latin American featherweight final, Yair Rodriguez defeated Leonardo Morales via unanimous decision (29-28). Rodriguez controlled the fight with his grappling in the first two rounds, and although he was outstruck in the third, he still did enough in the first two stanzas to get a clean sweep on the judges’ scorecards. Rodriguez scored as a -230 favorite while Morales lost at +210. In a women’s bantamweight bout, Jessica Eye defeated Leslie Smith via second-round TKO (Doctor stoppage). Eye lit up Smith in the first round with tons of punches and kicks and one of the punches popped Smith’s cauliflower ear. Smith was allowed to continue, but the doctor was forced to stop it in the second when the bleeding got worse, awarding Eye the TKO win. Eye closed at -295, while Smith lost at +265. In a featherweight bout, Gabriel Benitez defeated Humberto Brown via third-round submission (guillotine choke). Brown actually had some decent success throughout the fight with his wrestling, but for some reason he kept leaving his neck out during his takedown attempts and Benitez eventually caught him in round three with a guillotine and put him out cold. Benitez closed at -525 while Brown lost as a +450 dog. In a bantamweight bout, Henry Briones defeated Guido Cannetti via second-round submission (rear-naked choke). Cannetti hurt Briones badly to the body in round one, but he started to tire in round two and when he dropped his hands Briones took advantage, hitting him with a perfectly-placed uppercut to drop him to the mat, where he quickly earned the tapout with a rear-naked choke. Briones closed at -135 while Cannetti closed at +125. Underdogs That Won In a featherweight bout, Ricardo Lamas defeated Dennis Bermudez via first-round submission (guillotine choke). Lamas dropped Bermudez with a jab and then immediately went for his neck and choked him out for another huge win on his resume. Lamas cashed as a +155 dog while Bermudez lost as a -165 favorite. In a welterweight bout, Hector Urbina defeated Edgar Garcia via first-round submission (guillotine choke). Garcia rocked Urbina early with strikes but failed to take advantage of the situation, and when he went for a takedown late in the round, left his neck out and Urbina caught it and choked him out. Urbina cashed at +150 while Garcia lost at -160. In the TUF Latin America bantamweight final, Alejandro Perez defeated Jose Quinonez via unanimous decision (29-26, 29-26, 28-27). Quinonez looked like he was well on his way to earning the victory, but he made a huge mistake in the third round as he intentionally headbutted Perez and had two points deducted from his scorecards, and it cost him the fight. Perez cashed as a +215 dog, while Quinonez lost as a -235 favorite. In a featherweight bout, Marco Antonio Beltran defeated Marlon Vera via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3). This was an extremely competitive fight and many thought that Vera deserved to pull out the W, but the judges favored Beltran’s ground and pound over Vera’s submission attempts and he pull off the upset in his home country. Beltran cashed at +205 while Vera lost at -225.
