UFC 181 Date: December 6, 2014 Arena: Mandalay Bay Events Center City: Las Vegas, NV The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be live from Las Vegas this Saturday night with UFC 181, which will be headlined by a pair of title fights. The main card will be live on Pay Per View at 10pm ET, with preliminary action preceding it on FOX Sports 1 at 8pm ET and UFC Fight Pass at 7pm ET. If interested in wagering on these proposition plays, or any other plays for this fight card, you may do so at Several Bookmakerss. My live dogs for UFC 181 in Las Vegas are: Middleweight bout: Eddie Gordon (-160) vs Josh Samman (+140) Gabe’s Thoughts: Following an extended layoff due to injury and the death of his girlfriend, Josh Samman returns to action to take on TUF 19 winner Eddie Gordon. In a card full of what should be a lot of close fights, I think Gordon vs Samman will be the closest. I believe these are two very talented and well-rounded 185 pounders and they both pack a ton of power. I think this will be a very fun and very close fight that could see its way to the judges’ scorecards, despite the fact that they will each be looking to put the other away throughout the entirety of the 15 minute bout. I think this fight is a real coin-flip, so at underdog odds, I’ll take a chance with Samman in this squabble between two TUF veterans. I think that they will most likely be looking to finish each other from the opening bell, but there is the chance that Gordon expects Samman will be coming out strong and will opt to use his wrestling advantage to slow him down and take the fight into his world. If Gordon does indeed decide to take the fight to the mat, I don’t think it will be a walk in the park for him, as I believe Samman will be very active with both strikes and submission attempts, while looking for every opportunity to reverse position or get back to his feet. Gabe’s Call: Samman by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Josh Samman (+140) 1.75u to win 2.45u Women’s Bantamweight bout: Ashlee Evans-Smith (-190) vs Raquel Pennington (+165) Gabe’s Thoughts: I favor Evans-Smith to pick up the win here in her Octagon debut, but don’t agree with her being a -190 favorite over the two time UFC veteran Pennington. The Colorado native’s biggest weakness has been her mental issues, so it is interesting to see how that will factor into this fight, considering she knows that a loss here will make it two in a row for her. Personally, I think she is going to throw caution to the wind and put up the best performance of her career. The question is, will that be enough to defeat the undefeated prospect Evans-Smith? I think both women’s 135 pounders are legit and believe this will be a great fight, especially if they both show up prepared focused. I think this is going to be a close fight that will most likely see it’s way past all 15 minutes of action to the judges’ scorecards for a decision, where I slightly favor Evans-Smith to get her hand raised. However, at the current betting odds, I believe the value is with Pennington, so I’ll have to side with her for a small wager. Gabe’s Call: Evans-Smith by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Raquel Pennington (+165) 0.85u to win 1.4u
