Cage 43 takes place Saturday, April 28 at House of Culture in Helsinki, Finland. The Euro sportsbooks recently opened up odds for the card, and here they are followed by my initial reactions to them.
Cage 43 Opening Odds
Matteus Lahdesmaki -182
Ashleigh Grimshaw +130
Aleksi Toivonen -143
Salambek Damaev +100
Olli Santalahti -200
Nathan Jones +140
Manolo Scianna -125
Edward Walls -112
Mika Hamalainen -250
Ilia Topuria +170
Patrik Pietila -167
Toni Lampinen +120
My initial thoughts:
– The main event between Lahdesmaki and Grimshaw is essentially a bout between 30-something-year-old gatekeepers on win streaks. Lahdesmaki has won two-straight fights via choke while Grimshaw has won three-straight bouts himself. Both fighters have quite a bit of experience as well so this should be a good fight. I actually think it’s a really tough one to get a good read on. I slightly lean towards the favorite but I’m not seeing any value on either side here.
– I favor Toivonen over Damaev in the co-main event. Toivonen is seven years younger and he even has a fight against top prospect Jose “Shorty” Torres from earlier in his career, albeit a loss. I just think Toivonen is a bit better with his submissions and I think he has a good chance to get one here since Damaev will likely want to fight on the ground with him. Not sure I would bet it but that’s my pick.
– The Santalahti vs. Jones fight looks like a bit of a mismatch here. Santalahti has won seven-straight fights while Jones has been finished in his last two bouts. Jones definitely has more experience against better competition but Santalahti is the younger, fresher fighter with more upside. I think he probably dominates this fight and gets the finish and I like him quite a bit here.
– It’s hard not to lean towards Scianna over Wells considering these two have fought before and Scianna won by submission. It’s a bit concerning that Scianna lost his last fight but at least he wasn’t finished. I just don’t see a reason to believe the result of this rematch won’t be similar to the result of the first fight between these two.
– Pietila and Lampinen are both inconsistent fighters who have been fnished within the last year but both guys just fought in February and won. I wouldn’t touch this fight either as both guys have some momentum right now but both guys have pretty bad records.
– For a dog, I’d be taking a long hard look at Topuria over Hamalainen. Yes it’s true Hamalainen has won three-straight fights but Topuria is undefeated at 4-0 and is a bit of a wildcard here as an undefeated fighter. Having said that, Topuria hasn’t fought anyone good in his career yet so he’s generally untested, but of all the dogs on this card he’s the one who caught my eye.
