A few new UFC bouts were announced over the weekend, and for Monday’s MMA Odds and Ends I’ll give my quick thoughts on the new fights and give a ballpark estimate of what I think the betting lines will be. Dhiego Lima vs. Jorge Oliveira, UFC Fight Night 56 A last-minute injury to Pawel Pawlak forced him out of this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 56 bout against Dhiego Lima, and now the TUF finalist will take on replacement opponent Jorge Oliveira instead. The event takes place Saturday at Ginásio Municipal Tancredo Neves in Uberlandia, Brazil, and Lima vs. Oliveira will be on the prelim card. I definitely think Lima would have smashed Pawlak, and think the UFC was trying to set him up with an easy win there, and I think he should beat Oliveira too, although it’s a bit dangerous. Oliveira is a very good kickboxer and is undefeated at 7-0 in MMA with a ton of knockouts on his resume. He’s a natural 155er and is moving up to fight at 170lbs here on short notice to get into the UFC, and that will ultimately likely be his downfall, but it’s an interesting contest nonetheless. Regardless, look for Lima to be a big favorite when the lines open up, perhaps somewhere in the vicinity of -250. Lipeng Zhang vs. Chris Wade, UFC Fight Night 59 A lightweight bout between TUF China winner Lipeng Zhang and American Chris Wade has been added to UFC Fight Night 59, which takes place January 18 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The fight will be a part of the evening’s preliminary card. This is a pretty big mismatch if you ask me. Yes, Zhang won TUF China, but that’s not really much of an accomplishment. Let’s face it, the talent on that show was extremely low, and Zhang was basically a medium-sized fish in a very small pond. Since coming to the UFC he is 2-0, which may seem impressive, but he’s fought two guys who are bottom of the barrel in the UFC and only edged them out for decision wins. Now he’s taking on Wade, a powerful wrestler who had an impressive UFC debut this past summer, submitting his opponent in the first round. Wade fought a bottom feeder as well, but at least he looked impressive in victory, something which is hard to say about Zhang’s performances. I really believe Wades crushed Zhang in this fight, and I think the general betting public will as well. Look for Wade to be around -300 or possible even -400 in this fight, one he should win in devastating fashion.
