UFC on FX 3 Friday, June 8, 2012 at 9 p.m. (ET) on FX BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida Mike Pyle (-170) Profile: Pyle (22-8-1) is 5-3 in the UFC, going 4-1 in his past five fights. His losses in the UFC have come against Rory MacDonald (first-round TKO), Jake Ellenberger (second-round TKO) and Brock Larson (third-round arm triangle choke). The 36-year-old MMA veteran captured the WEC welterweight championship almost seven years ago toward the end of an eight-fight winning streak, and he defended the title once before going 4-3 in his next seven bouts, including a first-round submission loss to Jake Shields. Pyle is coming off a first-round TKO win over Ricardo Funch at UFC 142 on January 14 following the loss to MacDonald at UFC 133 last August 6. Josh Neer (+140) Profile: Neer (33-10-1) is another MMA vet, but he is riding a six-fight winning streak, including a 2-0 mark in the UFC. His last loss came against Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 17 in a 160-pound catchweight bout back on May 6, 2010. The 29-year-old from Des Moines has fought six times previously in the UFC with much different results. Neer fell to Drew Fickett at UFC Ultimate Fight Night in 2005 and then went 4-5 in his next nine bouts over two different stints, including losses to both Nick and Nate Diaz. His most recent run in the UFC started with a second-round TKO of Keith Wisniewski at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson last October 1. Neer followed that up with a first-round submission of Duane Ludwig at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller on January 20. UFC on FX 3 Opening Odds Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Pyle a -170 favorite (bet $170 to win $100) while Neer opened as a +140 underdog (bet $100 to win $140). There has been some small action on Pyle so far, with the MMA odds moving to -185 or higher on him with Neer getting +155 or more. Neer is more of a journeyman who has bounced around different organizations and could be on his way out of the UFC with a loss, although either one of the fighters could be dismissed with a bad performance. Neither is really capable of beating the top welterweight title contenders at this point of their respective careers, so it will be interesting to see what happens to both after this bout regardless of the result. Pyle has fought better opponents overall though and definitely deserves to be favored in this particular situation.
