The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Pay Per View next weekend (Saturday, January 3, 2015) for the promotion’s first event of the new calendar year with UFC 182. The event will be featuring eleven bouts, headlined by potentially the greatest light heavyweight title fight in mixed martial arts history between two pound-for-pound greats in challenger Daniel Cormier and defending champion Jon Jones. The evening’s main card will be live on Pay Per View at 10pm ET, and check your local movie theatre schedules, because UFC 182 will be playing live in select theaters nation-wide. Preceding the main card will be the evening’s televised prelims on FOX Sports 1, and action will get under way at 8pm ET, as veterans Evan Dunham and Rodrigo Damm make their ways down to the Octagon. Desperate to bounce back into the win column, these lightweights are expected to leave it all in the cage. Dunham is on a three-fight skid and is 1-4 in his last five. Damm has lost his last two and is 2-3 in his last five, so it’s safe to say that this is “do or die” time for both 155 pound veterans. Dunham opened as a -350 betting favorite in this contest, with his opponent Damm being a +250 underdog. Action has since come in on Dunham, driving betting lines to a current -500/+400. The next fight on the UFC 182 preliminary card on FOX Sports 1 comes in the heavyweight division, as Strikeforce import Shawn Jordan looks to move his winning streak to two as he takes on promotional newcomer Jared Cannonier. The native of Alaska is undefeated at 7-0 heading into his Octagon debut, owning six of his seven victories by way of finish; three by T/KO and three by submission. Jordan is a step up in competition for the undefeated heavyweight, who will certainly be the underdog heading into this match-up against the more experienced veteran. The sportsbooks indeed reflect that, as Jordan opened as a -175 favorite in this contest, with Cannonier being the betting underdog at +135. The public likes Jordan in this spot, as they have driven the betting lines to a current -230/+190. Next up is a contest that will see another undefeated fighter make his Octagon debut, as Cody Garbrandt gets ready to take on The Ultimate Fighter Season 14 veteran Marcus Brimage. Brimage was impressive in his bantamweight debut last month, knocking out Jumabieke Tuerxuen via head-kick in the first round of action, and he will be looking to stay undefeated at 135 pounds when he takes on Garbrandt. The 23-year old Garbrandt is a finisher, having won all five of his professional mixed martial arts bouts by way of T/KO. The Ultimate Fighter season 14 veteran opened as a -270 betting favorite in this contest, with the return on Garbrandt being +190. The line has since gotten a little tighter, sitting currently at -230/+190. Headlining UFC 182’s FOX Sports 1 prelims will be a lightweight battle between Team Alpha Male’s Danny Castillo and Paul Felder. Felder is an undefeated 155 pound prospect out of Team Renzo Gracie who picked up a split decision victory over then-undefeated Jason Saggo in his promotional debut nearly three months ago. This is a rare ‘winner vs loser’ match-up, as Castillo is coming off a split decision loss to Tony Ferguson and will be looking to bounce back into the win column in this one. The veteran will be the toughest test of the 29 year old’s professional mixed martial arts career, and he opened as a -210 favorite over him in this contest, with Felder being an underdog at +160. Some action has since come in on Castillo, making current betting lines -240/+200. If interested in wagering on these preliminary bouts, or any of the 11 scheduled bouts on the UFC 182 fight card, all lines will be made available at Several Bookmakerss.
