AXS TV continues their commitment to MMA as this week the organization brings us XFC’s latest effort, XFC 26 from Nashville, Tennessee. The organization’s third instalment of the ‘Night of Champions’ series features title fights in the lightweight and women’s flyweight divisions, as well as a couple of other intriguing fights. Today, MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting odds for the top four fights on XFC 26 at Several Bookmakers, and we’ll take a look at those fights. The main event of the evening features Scott Holtzman (5-0) defending his lightweight belt against Roger Carroll (11-9). Holtzman has shown a fairly well-rounded game in his young MMA career, which has been spent entirely in the XFC organization. He has slowly increased his level of competition, but with Carroll he faces a very similar test as in his last bout with John Mahlow. That’s reflected in a very steep line, as Holtzman is a -505 favorite to retain his title, while Carroll opened at +335. Carroll is very much a submission specialist, with all of his 11 wins coming by way of tapout. Holtzman should be able to control where this fight takes place, much like the Mahlow fight, and punish Carroll with strikes. The other title fight on the card is in the women’s flyweight division, and it will crown the organization’s inaugural champion in the weight class. This is a difficult fight to break down as combined there are only three professional fights between these two women. Cortney Casey is 1-0 in her career, and Pearl Gonzalez is 1-1. However, both women have extensive amateur backgrounds and showed off some solid submission skills in those amateur fights. We could be in store for an excellent grappling match here, but I can’t pick these fighters apart at this point. Casey does have the slight edge on the books however opening at -190, while Gonzalez sits at +150. In a featherweight bout which is a semifinal in the organization’s tournament, Deivison Ribeiro (23-9 1 NC) and Jason Hicks (5-1) will try to advance through the tournament. Ribeiro is a dangerous striker who transitioned from Brazil to the US last year, although he has only gone 1-2 since. Hicks is another fairly well-rounded prospect who was undefeated until he dropped a decision to Scott Holtzman in his last bout. Hicks won the XFC open tryouts and was awarded with a shot in the organization back in 2010. I do slightly favor Ribeiro’s experience — especially against some higher level competition — in this bout, but it should be a competitive and fun one however it goes. Oddsmakers feel the same way, as this opened as the closest fight on the card with Hicks being a slight -150 favorite and Ribeiro at +110 underdog. Kicking off the portion of the card with odds is Luis ‘Sapo’ Santos (57-9-1) taking on Justin Davis (13-11), in what can be called some generous matchmaking for Santos. Since being dropped by Bellator, Santos has picked up three wins in a combined 1:34 and I don’t expect this one to last much longer. After an impressive 10-1 start to his career, Davis struggled going 3-10 in his last 13 fights. Recently he returned from a two year hiatus only to get stopped by Max Nunes in the first round in June. The line being set with Santos as a -1200 favorite and the comeback on Davis at +600 is completely justified in my eyes. To recap, here are the opening odds for the top four fights at XFC 26, which can be seen live on AXS TV at 10pm on Friday, October 18th: ——————– XFC Lightweight Title Scott Holtzman -505 Roger Carroll +335 XFC Women’s Flyweight Title Cortney Casey -190 Pearl Washington +150 Jason Hicks -150 Deivison Ribeiro +110 Luis Santos -1200 Justin Davis +600 ——————–
