The UFC yesterday revealed three new bouts for upcoming fight cards, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my quick thoughts on them. Benson Henderson vs. Rustam Khabilov, UFC Fight Night Albuquerque The UFC yesterday announced they are going to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the first time this June, and the main event of the evening will be a fantastic lightweight bout between former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson and Rustam Khabilov. This should be a great fight between two fighters who train in the desert, and I think the UFC made a good choice booking it for the main event of their Albuquerque debut. Henderson is obviously one of the top 155ers in the world and is coming off a big win over Josh Thomson while Khabilov is 3-0 so far in the UFC. So the winner of this fight will for sure be in title contention. As for the line, it’s hard to say but I’d peg Henderson around -250 or possibly even closer to 3-to-1 for this fight, which I believe should be extremely exciting when it finally goes down. Bobby Voelker vs. Lance Benoist, UFC Fight Night Albuquerque As well, a loser-leaves-town welterweight bout has been booked between Bobby Voelker, who is on a three-fight losing streak, and Lance Benoist, who has lost two fights in a row himself. Like the Henderson vs. Khabilov bout, this matchup takes place at UFC Fight Night Albuquerque. I really like both these scrappy fighters but they both desperately need to get back in the win column, which is definitely why the UFC booked them against one another. Voelker, although he’s a tough guy, needs to get a win badly after going 0-3 in his first three Octagon bouts, while Benoist is 1-2 overall in the Octagon and hasn’t fought in almost two years due to injuries. The line for this fight should be fairly close, but I think Benoist will be favored just slightly, probably about -140 or so in this spot, which I believe is a dangerous bout to bet on. Daniel Sarafian vs. Kiichi Kunimoto, UFC 174 And finally, the first bout for the UFC 174 PPV card in Vancouver this June has been announced and it’s a welterweight bout between Daniel Sarafian and Kiichi Kunimoto. This bout will mark Sarafian’s UFC welterweight debut. Sarafian is a TUF Brazil 1 alum, and he’s been pretty solid so far in the UFC, going 1-2 overall with both those losses coming via split decision in close fights. However, he has been competing at 185 this whole time when he should have been at 170, so this move to welterweight should help him out some. As for Kunimoto, he was awarded a victory via DQ in his UFC debut, but it’s obvious he’ll want to get a true win the next time he steps in the cage. This should be a pretty good fight, and I’m looking forward to it. I’d expect Sarafian to be around 2-to-1 or a bit higher for this fight, and it should be a lot of fun when it goes down.
