The Ultimate Fighting Championship is back on Pay Per View and in Las Vegas with UFC 181 on Saturday, December 6th. The event will feature two title fights and 11 fights in total, including the five fight Pay Per View main card which will be live at 10pm ET. Kicking off the UFC 181 Pay Per View main card will be a barn-burner in the UFC’s lightweight division, as surging 155 pound prospects Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson” and Abel “Killa” Trujillo look to face off and extend their winning streaks. This is a fight between a couple of talented strikers who possess serious power, and I think it could be a real sleeper for the evening’s ‘Fight of the Night’ honors. Ferguson and Trujillo are a pair of lightweights who both like to move forward, do damage and look for the finish, so this is a fight that should leave fans pleased and a solid choice to get things going for the Pay Per View card. Ferguson opened as a -245 favorite over Trujillo at the sportsbooks, with the underdog being +175. Current lines are -250/+210 at Several Bookmakerss. The next fight on the UFC 181 Pay Per View card comes in the middleweight division and sees the return of Todd Duffee as he gets set to take on Jackson-Winklejohn MMA’s Anthony “Freight Train” Hamilton. This is the one fight on the main card that is the best bet to not go the distance, as they are both certainly finishers, owning a combined 16 of 21 professional mixed martial arts career victories by way of finish. Not to mention, they combine for five losses, with all five of them being due to T/KO. Despite his extended layoff, Duffee opened as the betting favorite in this contest at -280, with Hamilton being a +200 underdog at the sportsbooks. Current lines are -280/+240. We stay with the heavyweight division for the evening’s next battle, as big men Travis “Hapa” Browne and Brendan “Big Brown” Schaub look to bounce back into the win column following recent disappointing decision defeats. This is another fight that is not expected to go the three round distance, and apart from the two title fights, “Browne vs Big Brown” is the most anticipated scrap on the entire UFC 181 fight card. The Hawaiian and The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 finalist both have an ever-growing fan-base and are amongst the most popular heavyweights in the sport. Regardless of how long this fight lasts, I think it is another sure bet to leave fans pleased. “Hapa” opened as a -270 betting favorite in this contest, with “Big Brown” being a +190 underdog at the sportsbooks. Action has since come in on the Hawaiian, driving the current betting lines to -300/+250. The co-main event of the evening will see Anthony “Showtime” Pettis defend his UFC lightweight title for the very first time, and challenging him will be former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez. Fireworks are expected when these 155 pounders enter the Octagon, as fight fans expect them to go to war, and it’s no secret that’s what they love to do. This is a fight between two of the best lightweights in the world, so for that reason it is more than just a five round title fight; Melendez vs Pettis is a real sporting event. After competing against each other as coaches on Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter reality series, which was a near-sweep for Team Pettis, these 155 pound warriors are ready and eager to finally get in the cage and write the final chapter. In a fight that has all the makings of being an instant-classic, I believe Melendez and Pettis will both deliver. The challenger opened as the betting underdog in this five round title fight at +145, with the defending champion being the favorite to win at -185. Action has since come in on Pettis, making the current betting lines +180/-220. Headlining the UFC 181 main card on Pay Per View in Las Vegas will be a highly anticipated rematch between “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and Johny “Big Rig” Hendricks. After securing back to back victories over Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown, Lawler has earned another shot at the UFC welterweight title, and ultimately a rematch with the champion, Hendricks. The first fight between Lawler and Hendricks was very close, as they had each secured two rounds a piece heading into the fifth and final frame. In the final round, it was a Johny Hendricks takedown that decided the fight, with the four time Division I All-American wrestler ending the fight in top position. “Ruthless” has more confidence going into this rematch, as he has defeated a pair of top 10 welterweights to get his second shot at UFC gold, while “Big Rig” has been out of action the entire time and recovering from injuries. Despite that, he opened as the betting underdog at the sportsbooks at +210, with the champion being a -270 favorite to win. There has been back and forth action since, but most of it seems to have favored Lawler, as current betting lines are +180/-220.
