UFC Fight Night 74 Date: August 23, 2015 Arena: SaskTel Centre City: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heads to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada for the first time in promotional history for UFC Fight Night 74: Holloway vs Oliveira. The Canadian evening is action-packed with 12 scheduled bouts, including a six-fight main card that will be live on FOX Sports 1 at 9pm ET and a preliminary card to precede at 7pm on the same channel, with a pair of bouts coming prior to those on UFC Fight Pass at 6pm ET. If interested in wagering on this parlay, or any bouts on this fight card, all betting lines will be made available at Several Bookmakerss. My Fights to AVOID betting for UFC Fight Night 74 are: Lightweight bout: Olivier Aubin-Mercier (-240) vs Tony Sims (+200) Gabe’s Thoughts: I favor Aubin-Mercier to get his hand raised in this contest and think he should be a -200 favorite heading in. At his current betting price of -240, it is not worth it for me to make a play on him, and I don’t think there’s enough value in Sims at +200 to pull the trigger there, either. Sims is a talented lightweight prospect who made his UFC debut on short notice recently, knocking out American Top Team product Steve Montgomery in the very first round of action. In a quick turnaround, he takes on the French-Canadian in his natural weight class of 155-pounds and looks to go 2-0 inside the Octagon. This could end up being a close fight, but I think Aubin-Mercier will manage to get his hand raised. That said, I don’t think he offers any betting value at the sportsbooks, so this is a fight that will go avoided next weekend, as far as I’m concerned. Gabe’s Call: Aubin-Mercier by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID Women’s Strawweight bout: Maryna Moroz (-185) vs Valerie Laternou (+160) Gabe’s Thoughts: This is the toughest fight for me to call on this entire UFC Fight Night 74 card. I think there are still too many questions surrounding Moroz to make a confident prediction on this one. If I felt like gambling, I would take the underdog and see how things play out. I don’t think there’s a smart bet to make here and think a bet on either fighter is a legitimate gamble, so you’re better off taking the dog. For me, however, this ultimately has to be a fight to avoid at the sportsbooks next weekend. Gabe’s Call: Moroz by Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID Light Heavyweight bout: Daniel Jolly (+325) vs Misha Cirkunov (-400) Gabe’s Thoughts: In short, I think Cirkunov should win this fight, but -400 is too much to ask for him in his promotional debut, especially considering the fact that this is a light heavyweight contest. While I think he gets his hand raised, I don’t think playing him at these odds would be a wise move for a wager. Gabe’s Call: Cirkunov by Submission (armbar, 1:28 round 1) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID
