World Series of Fighting today announced a number of new bouts for its upcoming WSOF 4 card, which takes place August 10 at Citizens Business Park in Ontario, CA. The first new fight of note is a bantamweight bout between Marlon Moraes and Brandon Hempleman. After his stunning KO of Tyson Nam and a split decision victory over former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres in his first two WSOF bouts, expect Moraes to open up as a big favorite in this fight against the unknown Hempleman, perhaps -500. That’s not to say Hempleman can’t pull off the upset — these things happen in MMA, after all — but it’s not likely at all and I feel very strongly about Moraes in this particular spot. The next new matchup is a lightweight bout between Nick Newell and Keon Caldwell. You may remember Caldwell from his stint on TUF season 13, but the majority of bettors aren’t going to be familiar with him and honestly this looks like a very easy fight for Newell. Caldwell hasn’t fought in years while Newell has all the momentum in the world, so I strongly lean Newell in this fight and we can get him at under -300 he’s likely going to be worth putting in a parlay. And one more new fight of note is a welterweight bout between Jorge Santiago and Gerald Harris. Both of these fighters were cut too soon by the UFC and this should be a very competitive fight. Although Santiago has a “glass chin,” I actually favor him slightly in this fight as he looked quite good in a close loss to Gunnar Nelson in his UFC welterweight debut earlier this year while Harris hasn’t looked that great since dropping to 170. This fight should be close to a Pick ’em and if the line indeed is close to even I’ll probably make a play on “The Sandman.” In addition to these bouts, WSOF 3 also features previously-announced matchups of Tyrone Spong vs. Angel DeAnda, Ray Sefo vs. Dave Huckaba, JZ Cavalcante vs. Tyson Griffin and Antonio McKee vs. Lewis Gonzalez. All in all it’s a very solid free card and considering how entertaining the first three WSOF events have been, I don’t see this one being any less. By the way, there’s also a rumor flying out there that Anthony “Rumble” Johnson will take on Mike Kyle in a light heavyweight bout at WSOF 5 in September, so keep an eye out for that betting line because Johnson will certainly be worth a look. Yamamoto vs. Menjivar Booked For UFC 165 TVA Sports this week revealed a new bantamweight matchup at the upcoming UFC 165 card as veterans Yorifumi “KID” Yamamoto and Ivan Menjivar will go toe-to-toe in what should be a very exciting fight between two great veterans of the sport. Although Yamamoto is a very good fighter, I give Menjivar a considerable edge in this matchup because of “KID’s” excessive layoff, as he’ll be out of the cage about 18 months between his last fight at UFC 144 and this fight at UFC 165. As such, I expect Menjivar to open around at least -300 and even higher and as long as he’s under that number I’m going to be recommending a play on him in this spot.
