UFC on FX 6 takes place Friday night live from the Gold Coast, Australia, and not only is there an awesome main card, there’s also a solid preliminary card as well. Following is a betting preview of the six preliminary matches. In the main event of the prelims, Top 3 UFC featherweight Chad Mendes takes on Yaotzin Meza in what is obviously a mismatch. Mendes opened as a huge -1200 favorite (bet $1,200 to win $100) with Meza a +750 underdog (bet $100 to win $750) according to the MMA odds. Meza, who is a training partner of UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, took the fight on very short notice after Mendes’ original opponent Hacran Dias pulled out. He’s up for a very difficult task in Mendes, who is an incredible wrestler and who is coming off the best KO of his career, a knockout win of Cody McKenzie at UFC 148. This is Mendes’ fight to lose, but it’s a tricky fight to bet because he has such a high price tag attached to him, so it may be best to totally pass on this one unless you’re literally 100 percent confident in Mendes. Next is a light heavyweight tilt between Igor Pokrajac and Joey Beltran. Pokrajac opened as a -355 favorite with Beltran a +275 underdog. This could honestly be the “Fight of the Night” because both men like to stand and bang, but the difference between both guys is that Pokrajac has a ground game while Beltran does not. Beltran could take an absolute beating in the standup, and although his chin is good enough that he can last to a decision, he doesn’t have many paths to victory here. Expect Pokrajac to be a popular parlay pick. Then it’s a welterweight fight between Seth Baczynski (+255) and Mike Pierce (-325). Pierce is one of the most underrated 170-pounders out there and is coming off a huge KO win over Aaron Simpson, and he needs to beat Baczynski to put his name back in title talks. But it won’t be easy as Baczynski has been on an absolute roll as of late, winning all four of his fights since dropping down to welterweight. In a fight between a short fighter (Pierce) and a tall fighter (Baczynski), this should make for a compelling matchup. Then it’s a battle of TUF Smashes alumni when Australian welterweight Ben Alloway (-205) takes on fellow Aussie Manuel Rodriguez (+155). Both men didn’t make it to the finals of the show, with Alloway losing in the semifinals and Rodriguez being eliminated after getting injured during the competition. With a chance to secure a spot in the UFC, expect both fighters to be very motivated to win here. A fight between two more former TUF Smashes competitors is next as British lightweight Brendan Loughnane (+170) takes on fellow Brit Mike Wilkinson (-210). Like the previous bout, both guys are looking for a contract with the UFC after failing to make it to the finals on TUF. Loughnane made it to the semis but but lost a decision to TUF Smashes finalist Norman Parke while Wilkinson was eliminated from the competition due to an injury. Both guys should be very motivated here to put on a good show and get another chance to fight in the UFC. And finally, it’s a light heavyweight tilt between Nick Penner (+105) and Cody Donovan (-135). Donovan is a training partner of Brendan Schaub over at Grudge and seems to have some promise as a young prospect who will be making his UFC debut here. Penner, on the other hand, lost in his UFC debut to Anthony Perosh back at UFC on FX 2, and he needs to beat Donovan to ensure a longer stay with the organization. Both guys have a lot of pressure on them, so we’ll see how that translates when they step into the cage.
