UFC on Fox 15 took place today (Saturday, April 18, 2015) at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and overall the card was exciting as it featured a pivotal middleweight match-up. 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, middleweight Luke Rockhold put on a tremendous performance against Lyoto Machida. Machida landed a few nice counters early but the second Rockhold took the fight to the ground, the fight was all his. Rockhold dominated Machida on the canvas with big strikes while threatening with submissions. Machida barely survived the first round, and was quickly finished in the second round after looking very sluggish on the feet. Rockhold sunk in a rear naked choke after securing back mount and Machida had no choice but to tap out. Rockhold was victorious at -140 (Bet $140 to win $100) while Machida was stopped at +130 (Bet $100 to win $130). In the co-main event of the evening, history repeated itself as middleweight Jacare Souza destroyed Chris Camozzi via first round submission. Souza landed a few big shots on the feet before securing a takedown and quickly advancing to mount. When Camozzi tried to buck him off, Souza quickly latched on an armbar which forced the American to verbally submit the instant his arm began to extend. Souza cashed as a monstrous -1500 favorite while Camozzi was defeated as a +1200 underdog. In the opening bout of the main card, women’s strawweights Paige VanZant and Felice Herrig put on a terrific showcase of the division. Herrig started out strong, but she could not handle VanZant’s ridiculous pace as she was completely worn down over the final 12 minutes of the fight. VanZant unloaded a ridiculous amount of strikes, turning Herrig’s face into a bruised and bloody mess by the time it was all over. VanZant easily won a dominant unanimous decision on all three judges’ scorecards to come through as a slight -115 favorite while Herrig was destroyed as a +105 dog. In a lightweight contest, Beneil Dariush put on a grappling clinic against Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Jim Miller en route to winning a unanimous decision. Dariush survived a couple dangerous submission attempts early, but then put a hurting on Miller with dominant top control while constantly looking for arm triangles en route to winning two rounds on every judges’ scorecard. Dariush delivered as a -160 favorite while Miller was defeated at +150. In bantamweight action, Aljamain Sterling put on a clinic against Takeya Mizugaki, repeatedly putting the veteran on his back with takedown attempt after takedown attempt along the fence. Sterling eventually wore Mizugaki down and surprisingly gave up a dominant position to go for a a unique arm triangle choke from bottom, which forced a tapout in the third round. Sterling came through as a hefty -330 favorite while Migugaki was dominated as a +300 dog. In the final bout of the Fight Pass prelims, welterweights Tim Means and George Sullivan put on an entertaining scrap. Sullivan threw more strikes, but Means’ blows were far more damaging. Means was also able to thwart Sullivan’s clinch and takedown attempts, hurting Means with elbows and then securing top position when they went to the canvas. As Sullivan began to fade, Means turned it up a notch and eventually forced a tapout with a third round choke. Means secured his first UFC submission as a -150 favorite while Sullivan lost for the first time in the Octagon as a +140 dog. In the second bout of the night, featherweights Diego Brandao and Jimy Hettes put on a very entertaining ground battle for the first round. Brandao was able to secure top position for a majority of the round, but Hettes was very game with some fun scrambles from bottom. Unfortunately, an elbow thrown from Brandao opened up a cut on Hettes’ cauliflower ear and the doctor controversially ended the fight despite Hettes’ protests. Brandao was awarded a first round doctor stoppage TKO as a -135 favorite while Hettes lost as a +125 underdog. Underdogs That Won In a featherweight battle, Max Holloway absolutely obliterated Cub Swanson, cementing his status as a serious contender in the 145 pound division. Holloway outworked Swanson with a tremendous pace early and Swanson was never able to catch up. Holloway hurt Swanson multiple times as the fight wore on, eventually latching on a very tight guillotine choke which forced the Jackson’s MMA fighter to tap out late in the third round. Holloway came through as a +140 underdog while Swanson was upset as a -150 favorite. Two of the better UFC light heavyweights Ovince St. Preux and Patrick Cummins had a very entertaining one-round fight, but it was St. Preux who showcased continued improvement en route to a knockout victory. St. Preux was able to get up quickly every time Cummins took him down and he connected with some heavy strikes. Near the end of the round, a brutal uppercut sent Cummins crashing to the canvas where he finished “Durkin” with ground and pound. St. Preux was victorious as an even money +100 underdog while Cummins failed to deliver as a slight -110 favorite. In light heavyweight action, Corey Anderson and Gian Villante had a slugfest that lasted nearly three full rounds. Villante found success with heavy leg kicks which slowed Anderson’s offense down, while Anderson tried to outwork the New York native with a heavy output of strikes. Just when it seemed like Anderson was outpacing Villante, he was struck by a heavy punch and knocked out cold along the fence with just 40 seconds left in the third round. Villante scored the finish at +340 while Anderson was knocked out at -380. In the opening bout of the evening, middleweights Chris Dempsey and Eddie Gordon had a pretty roughshod showing overall. Gordon looked to outwork Dempsey with his wrestling and in the clinch in the first two rounds, but he slowed down badly starting near the end of the second round and Dempsey turned up the pace a bit. In the end, the judges sided with Dempsey via a close split decision with 29-28 scorecards across the board. All in all, Dempsey pulled off a shocker as a +320 underdog while Gordon was defeated as a -355 favorite.
