While there is no belt on the line this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 57, the card looks far deeper on paper than UFC 180 and should be rife with title implications. The six fight main card features four fighters ranked amongst the top 10 of their respective divisions, and the bouts without rankings relevance look like they should be entertaining at the very least. The betting lines for the main card — headlined by Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson — were released this past Saturday, and today MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas expanded the odds to the six fight preliminary card as well. Those bouts are capped off by heavyweights Ruslan Magomedov and Josh Copeland, although the two bouts relegated to the Fight Pass prelims (Paige Van Zant vs. Kailin Curran, and the UFC debut of talented South Korean Doo Ho Choi) may be the most enticing to the hardcore viewer. Keep reading for the opening odds from Several Bookmakers: ——————– MAIN CARD (Fox Sports 1, 10pm ET) Frankie Edgar -190 Cub Swanson +150 Bobby Green -125 Edson Barboza -115 Brad Pickett -210 Chico Camus +160 Jared Rosholt -230 Alexey Oleinik +170 Joseph Benavidez -405 Dustin Ortiz +285 Matt Wiman -230 Isaac Vallie-Flagg +170 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (Fox Sports 1, 8pm ET) Ruslan Magomedov -210 Josh Copeland +160 Luke Barnatt -315 Roger Narvaez +235 James Vick -280 Nick Hein +200 Yves Edwards -210 Akbarh Arreola +160 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 7pm ET) Paige Van Zant -140 Kailin Curran +100 Doo Ho Choi -350 Juan Manuel Puig +250 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: Apparently the UFC didn’t get the memo that the Mexico City card was this past weekend, as they put a pair of Mexicans on on these prelims. I’ll get to those fights, but I believe there’s a reason they didn’t get put in front of the Mexican crowd. Josh Copeland surprised me in his RFA title winning performance back in July, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him get past Ruslan Magomedov. He’s a better wrestler than Magomedov (and anyone Magomedov has faced to this point in his career) and surprisingly spry on his feet. One of Magomedov’s strengths at heavyweight is that he has solid cardio, but I don’t think that advantage will be as apparent here as it was in his UFC debut. Magomedov is still the better striker here, but Copeland actually has more power, and if I do end up betting this bout I’d be looking at Copeland as a dog. Roger Narvaez is used to being the bigger fighter in the cage. In his UFC debut, he was outsized fighting at light heavyweight, and in this fight he’ll be giving up three inches in height to Luke Barnatt. Narvaez actually has a two-inch reach advantage in spite of that, however. Barnatt should hold a striking advantage in this bout, and if he can keep it from going to the ground he should be able to pick up the win. His defense is still a concern, but I don’t think Narvaez poses enough of a threat to capitalize on it, nor is his wrestling enough to get Barnatt to the ground and keep him there. Without being buoyed by the hometown crowd as he was in his UFC debut, I don’t think Nick Hein has nearly the success in his follow up against James Vick. Vick is extremely talented, and it’s refreshing to see him fight just three months after his last bout rather than a year later. Nick Hein allowed Drew Dober to be rather competitive in the striking exchanges in that bout, and Vick is well beyond that with his length and versatility on the feet. Vick is just as dangerous with his grappling as well, and should Hein telegraph his takedown attempts too much here, we’ve seen the kind of damage Vick can do with his knees. Yves Edwards returned to the UFC in 2010 with two straight wins, and it was a great story for an aging vet. Since then, he’s gone 2-5 with one no contest (which was a loss originally). Four of those losses have come by stoppage, and he’s looking more and more his 38 years with each passing bout. That said, he’s been facing quality competition in most of his bouts, and Akbarh Arreola is a significant step down for him. This is probably why this bout didn’t find itself on the Mexico City card, as Arreola is chinny with poor cardio, and could legitimately lose to a faded Edwards by stoppage. Depending on where the under is set for this bout, that could be worth a look, as I don’t think it hits the cards regardless of who wins, but it’s tough to trust either of these guys for a straight play. Combined, Paige Van Zant and Kailin Curran are one year younger than Dan Henderson. These girls are extremely green at this point, but there is certainly talent there. I really have no idea how the fight will play out, since Van Zant has been out of action for about 18 months since her last fight and Curran has been out 9 months. At their ages, they may have made quantum leaps in technical ability or they could be the same fighters we saw last time out. Both train with excellent camps, so I expect some decent progression, but there’s no way to know how much so I’ll just stay away from this bout entirely. Doo Ho Choi was supposed to make his UFC debut earlier this year against Sam Sicilia, but an injury forced him out of that contest. I thought he would have beaten Sicilia, but luckily for him, he gets a bit of an easier matchup here against Juan Manuel Puig. The Mexican has almost no striking defense, and Choi hits extremely hard. That is not a good recipe for success here, and probably why this bout didn’t find its way on UFC 180. I expect Choi to get Puig out of there fairly quickly and if I wasn’t concerned about the trip to North America and UFC debut, he would be a slam dunk parlay leg. As it stands, the TKO or round 1 props (if available) are definitely live here.
