UFC 175 Date: July 5, 2014 Arena: Mandalay Bay Events Center City: Las Vegas, NV Middleweight bout: Uriah Hall (-425) vs Thiago Santos (+305) Fight Breakdown: The main card for UFC 175 will be featuring a middleweight contest between The Ultimate Fighter season 17 finalist Uriah Hall and the Brazilian Thiago Santos. Hall is the betting favorite heading into this scrap at -425 ($425 to win $100), with Santos being an underdog at +305 ($100 to win $305) at Several Bookmakerss. Uriah Hall (8-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) finally picked up his first win inside the Octagon, after coming short in his first two outings with split decision losses to Kelvin Gastelum and John “Doomsday” Howard, who are both currently competing in the welterweight division. At UFC 168 just over seven months ago, Hall took on Chris “The Crippler” Leben and sent the veteran into retirement with a TKO due to corner stoppage, as Leben was unable to come off the stool after the amount of punishment he received on the feet in the first round. The Ultimate Fighter season 17 finalist is a very skilled striker with dangerous knockout power, as he displayed on the television series, sending all opponents from the cage directly to the hospital. His weaknesses are his lack of a killer instinct and his wrestling; his wrestling needs work, in general, but especially his takedown defense. Hall is dangerous with all limbs on the feet and is capable of ending the fight at any moment. To compliment his ability to put opponents away, he is also a talented technical striker who has the ability to rack up points. The 29 year old has switched camps from Tiger Schulman’s in New York to Reign Training Center for his grappling and Black House MMA for his striking. He now trains with the best of the best and will be looking to make it two in a row inside the Octagon. I expect his conditioning to be on point for three rounds of action, should the fight go the distance. Thiago “Marretta” Santos (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) made his Octagon debut on short notice, replacing an injured Clint Hester and taking on a very game Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira. He was undersized and outclassed against Ferreira, who quickly dismantled him in the first round of action, submitting him with a guillotine choke. Santos stayed at middleweight for his next outing, where he took on another fellow Brazilian in Ronny Markes. Another very early finish was in the making, but this time it ended with Santos getting his hand raised; he hurt Markes with a liver kick just moments after the fight started, dropping him, then followed up with some ground and pound to get the stoppage from the referee. Naturally a welterweight, Santos now gets ready for his third middleweight appearance, in what is arguably his stiffest test to date. The Brazilian has yet to face an opponent as talented on the feet as Hall. Santos is skilled on the feet, as well; with his offensive striking, counter striking, and striking defense. His striking is fluid, in both southpaw and orthodox stances. Santos had decent takedown defense, and taken down, he is generally not easy to keep down. His only two fights inside the Octagon have resulted in such early finished that I think his cardio is questionable heading into this one. Gabe’s Thoughts: This will be the third consecutive fight Santos has where he will be giving up a size disadvantage. After he drops this one, I think he will move back down to welterweight. He got lucky beating Ronny Markes, but he should have never had that fight to begin with, the UFC was just trying to give Markes an easy win to get him back on track. When he was finished by an opponent he should have easily beat him, they cut ties with him, figuring he has no chance of becoming a contender in the promotion. There were high hopes for him when he first dropped down to 185. But enough about Markes – I think this fight is going to play out on the feet and Hall is going to get the better of Santos on the feet, possibly stopping him, but if not- picking up a unanimous decision victory on the judges’ scorecards. Gabe’s Call: Hall by KO (some sort of kick, 3:39 round 1) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Uriah Hall (-425) parlayed with Rousey/Davis under 2.5 rounds (-380) for -179 3.75u to win 2.1u
