UFC Fight Night 81 Date: January 17, 2016 Arena: TD Garden City: Boston, MA The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will be making it’s return to the TD Garden in Boston, MA on Sunday, January 17th for UFC Fight Night 81: Dillashaw vs Cruz. The first Fight Night card of the year, UFC Fight Night 81 comes stacked with a 12-fight card that guarantees fireworks from start to finish. Preliminary action for this fight card will get underway at 6pm ET on UFC Fight Pass and will continue at 8pm ET on FOX Sports 1, with main card action to follow at 10pm ET on the same channel. If interested in wagering on this parlay, or any bouts for this fight card, all betting lines are currently made available at Several Bookmakerss. Here is my parlay: Featherweight bout: Luke Sanders (+100) vs Maximo Blanco (-120) Gabe’s Thoughts: Sanders is making his UFC debut as an injury replacement for Dennis Bermudez and he will be going up a weight class to face arguably the stiffest test of his profesional mixed martial arts career in Blanco. Sanders is giving up his RFA bantamweight title to make his Octagon debut and he is currently undefeated at 10-0. Considering the fact that he is normally competes at 135-pounds, Sanders will not need to cut as much weight for this bout. I think there’s value to be had with Sanders at his current offering price of +100. I see him dictating the pace of this fight and keeping the pressure on Blanco. I think he either finds a late finish or takes the nod on the judges’ scorecards. Despite fighting out of his weight class and being at a size disadvantage, I think he may have the advantage in strength and see him getting the better of Blanco in grappling exchanges. I like Sanders to pick up a win here in his promotional debut, stay undefeated, drop back down to 135-pounds and start making some noise there. Gabe’s Call: Sanders by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Lightweight bout: Chris Wade (-360) vs Mehdi Baghdad (+300) Gabe’s Thoughts: I believe Wade has a superior grappling advantage heading into this 155-pound contest and I see him using it to control Baghdad on the mat for three rounds of action en route to a unanimous decision victory on the mat, though I think he stands a decent chance of securing a submission finish, as well. Baghdad is a short notice replacement for Mairbek Taisumov, who was forced to withdraw from the bout due to VISA issues. I think Baghdad’s takedown defense will be non-existant in this match-up, as I see Wade scoring takedowns at will, taking Baghdad into his world and doing whatever he wants. I think this is a good match-up for Wade and I see him walking away with it. Gabe’s Call: Wade by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) Light Heavyweight bout: Elvis Mutapcic (-165) vs Francimar Barroso (+145) Gabe’s Thoughts: Mutapcic is making his Octagon debut on very short notice as a late injury replacement for Abdul-Kerim Edilov and he is stepping up a weight class to take on the Brazilian. Mutapcic is naturally a middleweight, so the weight cut will not be a concern for him heading into this 205-pound contest. At this point in their careers, I think Mutapcic is the superior fighter of the two. I think his advantage on the feet will be the difference and I see him stopping Barroso with strikes at some point over the course of the 15-minutes of action. I think Barroso’s best chance at victory is to use his size to pressure Mutapcic against the fence, as he did in his last outing against Ryan Jimmo, and hope to secure two out of three rounds on the judges’ scorecards that way. Against Mutapcic, I don’t think he will find success with that game-plan, despite having the size advantage. Gabe’s Call: Mutapcic by T/KO (strikes, 3:44 round 2) Gabe’s Recommended Parlay: Sanders (+100), Wade (-360) and Mutapcic (-185) at +310 for 4.35u to win 13.5u
