The UFC announced a couple of new bouts in the last 24 hours, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my thoughts on them. Jerrod Sanders vs. Yosdenis Cedeno, UFC Fight Night 45 Due to an injury to Leo Kuntz, Jerrod Sanders has been signed and will made his UFC debut against Yosdenis Cedeno at UFC Fight Night 45, which takes place July 16 at Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ. Sanders is a WSOF vet and he already in training camp to fight on the next World Series card so I expect him to be in solid shape for this bout. As for Cedeno, he was very flat in his UFC debut against Ernest Chavez but he’s still a solid striker and could surprise in this matchup. It’s a close fight on paper but expect Cedeno to be a very slight favorite based on all the betting public support he got in his UFC debut. Alex Garcia vs. Matt Dwyer, UFC 176 A welterweight matchup between Alex Garcia and UFC newcomer Alex Dwyer has been booked for UFC 176, which takes place August 2 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Garcia has looked impressive in the UFC thus far, going 2-0 with with wins over Sean Spencer and Ben Wall. However, he is still young and improving and it’s obvious the UFC doesn’t want to rush him too fast, so they are matching him up against Dwyer, a top Canadian prospect who is coming off a huge win over DaMarques Johnson on the regional circuit. Dwyer is an excellent fighter who is improving himself and he is a very live dog in this matchup. Despite that, though, I do expect Garcia to be the favorite here, probably around -250 or so based on the hype factor and the fact the betting public seems to really like this guy. But I know I personally wouldn’t lay that sort of juice on him against an emerging threat like Dwyer, that’s for sure. Sam Sicilia vs. Katsunori Kikuno, UFC Fight Night 52 And finally, a featherweight bout between Sam Sicilia and Katsunori Kikuno was added to UFC Fight Night 52, which takes place September 20 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The fight will mark Kikuno’s featherweight debut. Sicilia has been up-and-down in his UFC career so far but he’s managed to stick around by getting wins when he needs them. As for Kikuno, he is coming off of a devastating knockout loss to Tony Ferguson and clearly he needed to make a change in his career, and it’s possible the drop to 145lbs could be just that. Not an easy fight to call, but I lean Sicilia very slightly based on his recent success and think he will open as a very slight favorite, about -140 or so.
