The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the fourth time this Saturday night (October 25, 2014), only this time the action will take place at an outdoor soccer stadium. UFC 179 will be live on Pay Per View, and it will be the first Brazilian Pay Per View event since UFC 153, which was headlined by a light heavyweight contest between then middleweight champion Anderson Silva and The Ultimate Fighter Season One finalist Stephan Bonnar. UFC 179 is going be an action-packed card from top to bottom, with 11 bouts scheduled to take place. A pair of scraps will get the show going on UFC Fight Pass at 7pm ET, with a four-fight preliminary card following it on FOX Sports 1 at 8pm ET. Kicking things off for the FOX Sports 1 prelims will be a featherweight contest between New Jersey-based Brazilian Felipe Arantes and Team Alpha Male product Andre “Touchy” Fili. It should be fireworks on the feet between these talented strikers, though it will be a rare winner vs loser match-up, as Arantes is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Maximo Blanco, while Fili was submitted by Max Holloway the last time he saw action. Despite being the fighter coming off a loss, “Touchy” opened as a -155 favorite over Arantes, who opened at the underdog price of +115. Some action has since come in on the Brazilian, tightening the lines to -125/-105. Next up is a flyweight contest between a pair of veterans in Scott Jorgensen and Wilson Reis. Both of these flyweights are solid in their own rights and are expected to leave it all in the cage, as they each look to make it two in a row at 125 pounds. Considering the fact that they are grappling-based fighters, I expect the majority of this battle to take place on the mat, where we could be in for a potential chess match. Reis opened as a -165 favorite in this match-up, with the return on his opponent Jorgensen at the underdog price of +125. There’s not really any movement with the lines here, but they did get slightly tighter at -155/+125. With the flyweight action wrapped up, the lightweights take center stage, as Japan’s Naoyuki Kotani takes on Brazil’s own Yan Cabral. In his 155-pound debut, the Brazilian will be looking to bounce back into the win column, following his unanimous decision loss to Zak Cummings nearly half a year ago. Meanwhile, Kotani hopes to pick up his first UFC win, after being knocked out by Norman Parke a couple of months ago, and going 0-2 with the promotion back in 2007 with losses to Thiago Tavares and Denis Siver, respectively. Cabral opened as a heavy -555 favorite in this match-up, with the return on the underdog Kotani being +365. Some action has since come in on the Brazilian, making the current betting lines -580/+415. Headlining the UFC 179 preliminary card on FOX Sports 1 will be a welterweight contest that sees red-hot Neil Magny take on TUF Brazil season two finalist William Macario. These two were originally scheduled to square off at UFC Fight Night 40 back in May, but Macario had to withdraw from the bout and was replaced by Tim Means, who Magny went on to defeat via unanimous decision. Action is certainly expected when these constantly-improving mixed martial artists enter the Octagon, and this is a fight to likely have fans on the edge of their seats. Stylistically, these 170-pounders make for an entertaining match-up; one that will likely contend for the evening’s ‘Fight of the Night’ honors. Magny has been on fire since losing a unanimous decision to Seth Baczynski last November, having put together a four fight winning streak in 2014, with wins over Gasan Umalatov, the aforementioned Tim Means, Rodrigo de Lima and Alex Garcia, respectively. The Brazilian, on the other hand, has not seen action in nearly a year, having last defeated veteran Bobby Voelker via unanimous decision in a brutal, one-sided 15 minute striking clinic. Being the fighter with four wins in a row this year, Magny opened as a -215 favorite over Macario, who opened at the underdog odds of +165. Action has since come in on Magny, driving the betting lines to -250/+190.
