With Rashad Evans pulling out of his UFC 170 bout with Daniel Cormier due to a knee injury this week, the star power of the card took a hit. Now, the headlining bout between olympians Ronda Rousey and Sara McMann will be relied upon to drive this card on its own. Due to Evans dropping out, there are currently only two lines available for the event which takes place next Saturday. The title fight between Rousey and McMann as well as the welterweight clash between Rory MacDonald and Demian Maia are the only fights with odds available at the moment. MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas changed that today, as he released the betting odds for the other three main card bouts and one prelim, including Cormier’s with replacement Pat Cummins. Take a look: ——————– MAIN CARD (PPV, 10pm ET) Ronda Rousey -705 Sara McMann +435 Daniel Cormier -1125 Pat Cummins +575 Rory MacDonald -215 Demian Maia +165 Mike Pyle -165 TJ Waldburger +125 Stephen Thompson -130 Robert Whittaker -110 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (Fox Sports 1, 8pm ET) Alexis Davis -185 Jessica Eye +145 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: I know that in the hours following the announcement of Cormier/Cummins there was a contingent of media members who were making the claim that Cummins will beat Cormier. I sincerely hope they bet this fight as such. This is a massive step up in competition for Cummins. He is making his UFC debut. It’s coming on short notice. All of those factors are negative, and just too much to overcome against a fighter like Cormier, no matter how good Cummins turns out to be in the future. So from my selfish perspective: please buy into the hype. In the other two fights, the public sentiment seems to be heavily leaning towards the favorites. Too heavily, in my opinion. Based on that, I’d expect these lines to creep up a bit, and I hope they do, as I can certainly see Waldburger and Whittaker picking up wins. Obviously Waldburger’s chin is a big concern against Pyle and his recently discovered KO power. However Pyle is now 38, also not the sturdiest fighter, and Waldburger is the better submission grappler here. He has multiple paths to victory. I actually favor Whittaker slightly against Thompson, who I simply haven’t been overly impressed by in his UFC run. I think Whittaker has better physical tools, won’t have to worry about the pace and cardio issues that were his undoing in a close fight against Court McGee, and may even be able to take this fight to the ground if need be. A tricky fight, but one I’ll likely be playing Whittaker at a dog price.
