One of the preliminary bouts at UFC 173 is a bantamweight bout set for three rounds between Chris “Holds it Down” Holdsworth and Chico “King” Camus. The current betting line for the fight at Several Bookmakers lists Holdsworth as a -360 favorite (bet $360 to win $100) while Camus is a +300 underdog (bet $100 to win $300). MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas originally opened up Holdsworth at -380 and Camus at +260, meaning there has been little movement on either fighter as the lines have tightened. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more action in Holdsworth’s favor and I’m picking him to win the fight. Here’s why. Holdsworth (5-0) is one of the top prospects in the UFC bantamweight division and is the winner of TUF season 18. The 26-year-old trains out of Team Alpha Male and has shown tremendous grappling ability through his five five pro MMA fights, winning each of them via submission. Despite having only a few fights under his belt, Holdsworth fights like a veteran and looked fantastic in his UFC debut over Davey Grant, defeating his more experienced opponent with a highlight-reel submission to claim the TUF title. I believe Holdsworth has an extremely bright future in the sport of mixed martial arts and training under Duane “Bang” Ludwig, I think he’s that much more dangerous now with some striking skill to go along with his beautiful grappling. And that makes him a scary opponent for anyone in the division Camus (14-4) took the fight on short notice following an injury to Kyung Ho Kang. The 29-year-old former product of Roufusport is 3-1 so far in the UFC with victories over Kang, Dustin Pague, and Yaotzin Meza and a loss to Dustin Kimura. He has shown an excellent top game so far in the UFC, and whenever he can get on top of his opponents he seems to be very hard to get off and as we know the judges love fighters who stay on top. However, he showed poor submission defence and a poor fight IQ in the fight with Meza and that’s a huge concern going forward. He also hasn’t shown much in the way of striking. Although he is much more experienced that Holdsworth, Camus has too many flaws in his game to be favored here against the youngster and that’s why he’s such a big underdog heading into this weekend’s bout despite his huge experience edge. I think Holdsworth is better everywhere and in this particular matchup between two grapplers, I see the fight hitting the mat with Holdsworth winning the fight with a highlight-reel submission. At -360, I do see some value in Holdsworth and think he could be a worthwhile parlay piece as I fully expect him to win the fight. There is also a prop on Holdsworth wins inside the distance that’s at -120 that could have some value if it gets closer to even money by fight day.
