UFC Fight Night 47 Date: August 16, 2014 Arena: Cross Insurance Center City: Bangor, Maine UFC Fight Night 47 will be live from Bangor, Maine for the first time in UFC history this Saturday night at 10pm ET on FOX Sports 1 with a six-fight main card to be headlined by a five round welterweight contest between Ovince St. Preux and Ryan Bader. The winner will likely take on Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in his next outing. Preceding the main card will be a four-fight preliminary card starting at 8pm ET on FOX Sports 2. If interested in wagering on these props, or any other plays for this fight card, you may do so at Several Bookmakerss. My live dogs for the UFC Fight Night 47 main card are: Light Heavyweight bout: Ovince St. Preux (+165) vs Ryan Bader (-175) Gabe’s Thoughts: Both of these 205-pounders were victorious on the same Fight Night main card a couple of months ago, with OSP scoring a TKO win over Ryan Jimmo and Bader dominating Rafael Feijao en route to a unanimous decision victory on the judges’ scorecards. They talked about the potential of this match-up during the post-fight press conference and both fighters said they would be happy to take the fight, and the UFC brass ended up putting it together. Regardless of whether you think it is a fight worthy of a main event slot, it should be one that proves to be exciting. Both fighters possess grappling skills, as well as heavy hands. I think there is a great chance we will see a finish in this fight, and I favor OSP to be the man who gets it done. I think Bader will try to box at first, but will then resort to his wrestling when he feels OSP’s power. I think OSP will be able to find a finish within 25 minutes of action, but if he fails to score one, I do like his chances of taking a decision. I believe his takedown defense has improved since his Strikeforce days, so I feel there’s a good chance he will be able to fend off a majority of Bader’s takedown attempts. Gabe’s Call: OSP by T/KO (punches, 3:50 round 1) Gabe’s Recommended Play: OSP (+165) 3u to win 4.95u Middleweight bout: Brad Tavares (-280) vs Tim Boetsch (+255) Gabe’s Thoughts: I favor Tavares to get his hand raised in this one, but I feel he is being over-valued at -280, as I feel Boetsch could potentially grind out two out of three rounds here in this fight. I think Boetsch should be in the around +150, so at the current betting line of +255, I think the value is with him and do like him for a minor value play. This fight is more than likely going to hit the judges’ scorecards, where they seem to favor Boetsch, as he has picked up a number on undeserving decision victories in past bouts. I expect there to be a mixture of both striking and grappling in this match-up. Bubba McDaniel was successful in outwrestling Tavares in the third round of their bout, so if Boetsch finds success in scoring a takedown, I think he can manage to do the same. I think this fight is a lot closer than the odds suggest, and while I favor Tavares to get the win, as I think he has more routes to victory, I believe the betting value to be with Boetsch. Gabe’s Call: Tavares by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Boetsch (+165) .6u to win 1.53u
