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 tonight (January 17, 2016) 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 these ‘FOTN’ 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: Sanders/Blanco +900 || .25u to win 2.25u Sanders is stepping in for an injured Dennis Bermudez to take on Maximo Blanco on short notice. He is relinquishing his RFA bantamweight title to make his UFC debut and will be fighting a weight class above. He will look to take out Blanco and remain undefeated as a professional mixed martial artist, while Blanco will aim to make it four wins in a row for himself inside the Octagon. I think this fight has a good chance of being entertaining, considering both of their fighting styles. They are both aggressive fighters who like to put the pressure on their opponents, so it will be interesting to see how things play out when they square off in Boston this evening. Should these fighters take home the evening’s ‘Fight of the Night’ honors, it would be the first time for both of them. At +900, I think this play is worth a stab. I believe the top two fights billed on this fight card (Dillashaw/Cruz +300 and Pettis/Alvarez +350) stand the best chance of taking home the bonus, but I don’t think there’s enough value with either to support the pull of the trigger on a wager. Rosa/Bochniak +1000 || 1u to win 10u Rosa will be trying to get back into the win column following a split decision loss to Yair Rodrigues at UFC 188 last June, and he will aim to do so by taking out Bochniak, who is a short notice injury replacement for Augusto Mendes, who himself was a late injury replacement for Rosa’s original opponent Jimy Hettes. Bochniak is making a quick turnaround following a first round rear naked choke win under the CES banner last Friday and this will without a doubt be the toughest test of his professional mixed martial arts career. He hopes to make an impressive UFC debut and I think he has a good chance of doing so. I think Rosa and Birchak are a recipe for fireworks; I believe the two will produce entertaining action much more often than not. They are both Boston fighters, so the crowd will certainly be cheering loudly for them, as well. At +1000, I think there is a lot of value in this line, and I really like it for a wager. Should these 145-pounders take home the evening’s ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus, it would of course mean the first time for the promotional newcomer Bochniak, while being the third for Rosa, who has earned one in each of his UFC losses.
