The UFC officially announced UFC 169 yesterday, and the event already has its top-two fights: a main event between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira for the UFC light heavyweight title, and a co-main event between heavyweight sluggers Alistair Overeem and Frank Mir. Reem vs. Mir, which had been set for UFC 167, was moved to UFC 169 so Mir had more time to recover from his knockout loss to Josh Barnett at UFC 164. The event will take place February 1, 2014 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and it will air on PPV. Newsday was the first to break the news. Jones is -750 right now while Teixeira is currently at +450. As for Mir/Reem, expect Reem to open at about 2-to-1 or maybe a bit higher. Robert Drysdale vs. Cody Donovan, UFC 167 First up is a light heavyweight bout between Cody Donovan and a debuting Robert Drysdale, which takes place at UFC 167. All respect to Donovan but I don’t think he’s in the same class as Drysdale. Look for Drysdale to get this fight to the ground early and lock in a sweet submission for the W. I expect Drysdale to open at -300 or even higher for this fight. Bobby Voelker vs. William Macario, UFC 168 Next is a welterweight bout between Bobby Voelker and William Macario, which is set for UFC 168. This is an interesting little fight but I have a feeling the UFC is kind of throwing Voelker a bone here, so to speak, after he took a short-notice fight against Robbie Lawler to help the promotion out and ended up getting KOed for his efforts. My initial thoughts are to look for Voelker to open at -200 or so for this fight. Sam Stout vs. Cody McKenzie, UFC on FOX 9 And the last new matchup announced yesterday was a lightweight bout between Sam Stout and Cody McKenzie, which is going to take place on the stacked UFC on FOX 9 card. The fight will take place in the lightweight division. I really think this is just the UFC giving Stout an easy W to try and get back on track after losing a heartbreaker to James Krause at UFC 161. I know that he lost that fight via guillotine and McKenzie has one of the best in the business but seriously, does anyone actually think McKenzie has a chance here? Look for Stout to open around -400 for this one, and look for him to maybe even get a rare body shot KO against McKenzie. Ben Rothwell Suspended And finally, one more piece of news to pass along, as Ben Rothwell was suspended by the UFC for nine months after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone following his UFC 164 KO win over Brandon Vera. Anyone who knows me knows how much I am against TRT so I am very upset about this whole situation, but I feel bad for Vera especially as it appears as though his loss will stand as the fight likely won’t be changed to a no contest. Rothwell will return next summer, but don’t expect him to be in the title hunt when he does return as the UFC will likely start to use him as a gatekeeper instead of a contender.
