The UFC today announced that UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao is injured and out his his scheduled UFC 161 bout against Eddie Wineland and the new main event for the card is Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans, which was scheduled to be the co-main event. This sucks for the MMA fans of Winnipeg, who were looking forward to the Barao vs. Wineland scrap. There’s been no indication yet if Wineland will continue to fight on the card against another opponent or if he will be put on the shelf until Barao is scheduled to return to action. The fight between Henderson vs. Evans currently sees Hendo as a +100 underdog and Evans as a small -120 favorite, while the total is set at 2.5 with the over being -160 and the under being +120. Right now, I’m completely split on who to bet on. At first I liked Henderson at +100, but after thinking about it more I like Evans at -120. But even more than both of those I like the under at +120 because I see a finish in this fight. Yes, I know both guys are coming off boring decision losses but both guys are historically finishers and I see this fight ending under 2.5 rounds for either guy. Full UFC 160 Lines Released The full lines for UFC 160 were released today at Several Bookmakers and there is some tremendous value on the board. Here are a few fighters I believe are undervalued. Max Holloway (+225) — Although I agree that Dennis Bermudez should be favored in this fight, I don’t think he should be such a high favorite and that’s why I like a small play on Holloway. Yes, Holloway looked poor against Leonard Garcia at UFC 155 but that fight took place on only 10 days’ notice for Holloway and he obviously had not been training his wrestling. I still believe in this guy though and I like his striking against Bermudez’ poor striking defence. I think Holloway can land enough strikes to either win a competitive decision or knock Bermudez out and I like a small play on him at the current line. Robert Whittaker (+200) — This fight with Colton Smith will be a lot closer than people expect it to be. I like Whittaker in this spot because I think the fight is a Pick ’em and I have to take a stab at +200 here. I think Whittaker can outright knock Smith out and I think Smith is overrated after his win over Mike Ricci so I think there’s some value in Whittaker at +200. Brian Bowles (-290) — I’m not sure how the betting public expects Bowles to defeat George Roop. I just think that Bowles is the far superior in every facet of the game and he should win this fight by stoppage. Frankly, I cap Bowles at -400 so at -290 this is one of the rare cases where I wouldn’t be against laying the heavy juice.
