Although it seems like it’s been forever since the last UFC event, it’s only been two weeks since Dan Henderson completed an amazing comeback against Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua down in Brazil. Another MMA legend looks to successfully extend his career this coming Friday in Abu Dhabi, as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira takes on Roy Nelson in an intriguing heavyweight bout. The lines for the four-fight main card were released at Several Bookmakers last week, but that still left the preliminary portion of the nine-fight event without betting odds, until today. A pair of former Zuffa title challengers headline the preliminary portion of the card, as middleweight Thales Leites looks to move to 3-0 since returning to the UFC against Trevor Smith, and former WEC bantamweight title challenger Rani Yahya returns to that weight class for the first time since 2010 as he takes on Johnny Bedford. Heavyweights Jared Rosholt and Daniel Omielanczuk hope to extend their UFC records to 2-0 on the undercard, as Rosholt’s wrestling-centric style takes on Omielanczuk’s submission game and the surprising striking power he showed in his UFC debut. Also on the prelims, middleweights Andrew Craig and Chris Camozzi will be wanting to bounce back from losses in their most recent outings as they attempt to stay off of the UFC chopping block. Kicking off the show will be a featherweight battle between former Cage Warriors champion Jim Alers, and the first Iraqi fighter in the UFC, Alan Omer, which should showcase a pair of fighters with solid submission skills. MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the remaining lines for UFC Fight Night 39 today at Several Bookmakers. Take a look: ——————– MAIN CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 2pm ET) Roy Nelson -190 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira +150 Tatsuya Kawajiri -155 Clay Guida +115 Ryan LaFlare -230 John Howard +170 Beneil Dariush -210 Ramsey Nijem +160 ——————– PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 11:30am ET) Jared Rosholt -210 Daniel Omielanczuk +160 Rani Yahya -170 Johnny Bedford +130 Thales Leites -385 Trevor Smith +265 Andrew Craig -130 Chris Camozzi -110 Jim Alers -270 Alan Omer +190 ——————– Brad’s Analysis: Daniel Omielanczuk scored an impressive stoppage in his UFC debut, while Jared Rosholt went through the fire to beat Walt Harris by decision. Despite those differing debuts, I think Omielanczuk will struggle with the wrestling of Rosholt here. Many of the Pole’s wins on the regional circuit came by submission, and those instincts to grapple kicked in at times against Guelmino. If he gets sucked into grappling exchanges against Rosholt — which is very likely against an aggressive wrestler — he’ll end up on the bottom and won’t have much success. That’s how I see this fight going, and I expect Rosholt to take a decision. I’ll keep an eye out for that line instead of betting the fight straight. A fight that I see playing out on the mat, but in a far different way, is Yahya/Bedford. One of Bedford’s biggest advantages at 135 is his size, but facing Yahya — who is used to competing against much bigger fighters — that shouldn’t be an issue. Although Yahya isn’t as competent on the feet, he is very schooled at creating scrambles and grappling exchanges, and once in them there are few better. I keep waiting for Thales Leites to get a step up in competition, especially considering he never should have been cut from the UFC in the first place. Trevor Smith is not that step up. Leites is the better striker, better grappler and has superior (but not great cardio). Smith is normally at his most dangerous on the ground, and that really shouldn’t be a factor in this fight. I’m not sure how exactly Leites loses this bout, so I think he’s a solid parlay leg. The most difficult prelim to call is definitely Craig and Camozzi. Both fighters are fairly solid offensive strikers, but have defensive liabilities. Camozzi has the edge in terms of volume on the feet, but Craig has the edge in wrestling, so this depends on if the fight takes place at range on the feet, or if Craig can get in tight and make it dirty. The debuting fighters on this card provide an interesting clash, as Jim Alers has a very top-heavy submission style and Alan Omer will be looking to keep this bout on the feet and employ his striking. I don’t think the type of grapplers Omer has faced (primarily on the German MMA scene) will have prepared him enough for Alers’ skills and I expect the Cage Warrios graduate to make an impressive UFC debut.
