The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA tomorrow night for the third time in promotion history with UFC Fight Night 63, which will be headlined by a five round main event contest between top featherweights Chad “Money” Mendes and Ricardo “The Bully” Lamas. The main card action will kick off with six scheduled bouts at 1pm ET on FOX Sports 1, with a four-fight preliminary card preceding it on the same channel at 11am ET. After the event concludes, the promotion will be awarding $50,000 checks to two fighters for ‘Fight of the Night’ honors. If interested in wagering on these props or any other plays for this fight card, all betting lines will be made available at Several Bookmakerss. The ‘Fight of the Night’ plays that hold the most value are: Iaquinta/Masvidal +350 – This lightweight scrap is my top pick to take home the morning’s ‘Fight of the Night’ honors tomorrow night in Virginia, and at the current betting tag of +350, I think there’s enough value to warrant a wager. I think it’s worth playing at +250 or better. Iaquinta and Masvidal have both edged their way into the UFC’s top 15 rankings with their current three fight winning streaks (Iaquinta has three in a row by TKO and Masvidal has a hat-trick of unanimous decision’s). Tomorrow night in Virginia, #15 ranked Iaquinta and #14 ranked Masvidal will square off in the co-main event of the evening, and I think these two are going to deliver. When it’s all said and done, I expect both 155-pounders to have left it all inside the Octagon. The victor will move up the rankings, while it will be back to the drawing board for he who comes up short. Should these lightweights manage to take home the morning’s ‘Fight of the Night’ honors, it would mean the first time for Team Serra-Longo’s Iaquinta, while being the second for American Top Team’s Masvidal, who earned his first in a unanimous decision loss to Rustam Khabilov prior to his current three fight run. Jones/Stallings +800 – These middleweights are scheduled to kick off the action for the preliminary card of the morning, and I expect both men to leave it all inside the Octagon in their efforts to pick up their first UFC win. Jones made his UFC debut on short notice against The Ultimate Fighter Season 19 winner Corey Anderson and dropped a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards, which marked the first professional defeat of his professional mixed martial arts career. Now he drops back down to his natural weight class of 185-pounds, and hopes to make a run in the division. Standing in his way is Stallings, who also made his promotional debut on short notice, taking on The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 finalist Urijah Hall and losing the bout via TKO (doctor stoppage due to cut) and also looks to rebound with a victory. As long as there is no early finish, I think this will be an entertaining fight and is a sleeper to take home the bonus. At the current betting price of +800, I think it’s worth a play. Should these middleweights take home the morning’s ‘Fight of the Night’ honors in their second Octagon appearance, it would be a first for both fighters.
