The Octagon makes its way back across the Atlantic for what will be a rare Saturday matinee event to North American audiences. UFC Fight Night 30 features a decidedly British cast, as nine of the 12 bouts will feature a UK fighter. In fact, the main event of Mark Munoz taking on Lyoto Machida in his middleweight debut is the only fight which doesn’t feature a European fighter at all. Last week, the betting odds were released for the main card bouts, as well as for two fights on the preliminary card featuring some of the more popular British fighters. Today, MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the remaining UFC Fight Night 30 odds at Several Bookmakers. Take a look at all of the opening odds below, and note that the new additions are bolded: ——————– MAIN CARD (Fox Sports 2, 3pm ET) Lyoto Machida -380 Mark Munoz +260 Melvin Guillard -175 Ross Pearson +135 Jimi Manuwa -210 Ryan Jimmo +160 Norman Parke -165 Jon Tuck +125 Alessio Sakara -230 Nicholas Musoke +170 John Lineker -400 Phil Harris +280 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 12:15pm ET) Al Iaquinta -170 Piotr Hallman +130 Andrew Craig -260 Luke Barnatt +180 Rosi Sexton -165 Jessica Andrade +125 Cole Miller -245 Andy Ogle +175 Jimy Hettes -705 Robert Whiteford +435 Michael Kuiper -300 Brad Scott +220 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: The one line that sticks out to me in this bunch is how close Sexton/Andrade is. While Andrade has some physical advantages here and is certainly a fighter to look out for in the future, I don’t think she’s ready to be in the UFC right now. Travelling across to the UK and fighting a hometown fighter who has a ton of experience against top competition doesn’t bode well for her here. There seems to still be some hype behind Andrade however, so it will be interesting to see where this line goes. The other line I’ll be keeping an eye on is Iaquinta/Hallman. I like Iaquinta in the fight, but I’m hoping that Hallman’s impressive comeback will linger in the public’s mind and some money will come in on him here. We saw Hallman struggle against Trinaldo in the striking game, and Iaquinta is a solid technical striker who also has the cardio to keep his assault up for 15 minutes. People forget that even though Hallman’s toughness played a huge role in his comeback, the biggest factor was Trinaldo’s horrible cardio. The other two lines are right about where they should be… if not a little bit low. There are better featherweights on the UK scene that the UFC could have brought in on short notice instead of Whiteford. Kuiper meanwhile has continued to develop and impress in his UFC career, and I see no reason for that to stop here.
