UFC 184 Closing Odds and Results 
On Saturday night, the Octagon returned to Los Angeles for the first time since 2012, and for its first pay-per-view event since all the way back in 2009. UFC 184 was the first time a PPV had been headlined by a pair of women’s bouts, and the card delivered. The 11-fight card saw 7 favorites win, while 3 underdogs had their hand raised based on Several Bookmakers closing odds. The 11th bout, a bantamweight contest between Kid Yamamoto and Roman Salazar, was ruled a ‘No Contest’ due to an accidental eye poke. Favorites That Won Ronda Rousey is one of a kind. The women’s bantamweight champion bested her previous fastest finish by taking out Cat Zingano with an armbar in just 14 seconds. It was also the fastest submission in a UFC title bout, ever. Justifiably, Rousey was a massive favorite heading into the bout, but some late money on Zingano meant the defending champion closed at -660 after being as high as -1300 in the lead up to the fight. Holly Holm made her UFC debut and was in prime position to make a big impression, potentially landing her a title shot against Ronda Rousey next. It didn’t go quite to plan however, as Holm won a split decision over Raquel Pennington, but showed nothing to make onlookers think she could beat Rousey. Holm was one of the biggest favorites on the card at -550. Jake Ellenberger got back into the win column for the first time in nearly two years, as he submitted Josh Koscheck in the second round of their welterweight bout. After starting a bit slow, Ellenberger began to find his range and make Koscheck uncomfortable on the feet. After a sloppy takedown attempt, he locked in the choke which actually made the former title contender foam at the mouth before tapping out. Ellenberger closed at -140. Alan Jouban made short work of Richard Walsh, using a beautiful elbow from the clinch to hurt the Aussie and following up with a flurry of punches that forced referee John McCarthy to step in. Had the decision in his bout with Warlley Alves gone the other way, as many felt it shouldhave, Jouban could now be 3-0 in his UFC career. He opened at -385, but late action on Walsh brought the number down all the way to -250 by fight time. Opening up the PPV card, Tony Ferguson got the ball rolling for favorites as he rocked Gleison Tibau early, and never let up. Eventually the TUF winner took Tibau’s back and forced the Brazilian to submit for the first time in his UFC career. That prop paid out handsomely, but Ferguson was the favorite heading into the bout at -240. Tim Means was let go from the UFC after a pair of lacklustre performances back in 2013, but re-signed with the promotion last year. After dropping his return bout, he’s now gone on a three-fight winning streak, with the most emphatic of those three being his elbow and punch induced KO of Dhiego Lima tonight as a -160 favorite. Derrick Lewis broke a streak of 12 consecutive underdog victories inside the UFC, which I’m going to declare a record. At times it looked a bit dicey for him against Ruan Potts, but eventually he got top position and just kept punching until Jerin Valel had no choice but to stop the fight. Lewis was the biggest favorite on the card at -770. Underdogs That Won Roan Carneiro was the biggest underdog to come through on UFC 184, cashing at +240 over Mark Munoz. The win was surprising in that Carneiro is a welterweight and took the fight on short notice, but not a huge shock because of Munoz’s age and issues between fights. Still, it was an impressive UFC return for the 36-year-old. Valmir Lazaro rebounded from a disappointing performance in his UFC debut to score a split decision victory over James Krause in a closely contested bout. It seemed that most scored the bout for Lazaro, so the judges probably got it right in the end, but the more important thing for the Brazilian is that he got his first UFC win under his belt. And for his backers, their +185 tickets cashed. The opening bout of the night saw Masio Fullen use his experience to snatch a victory away from Alexandre Torres after dropping the first round. Fullen was actually the favored fighter from the time lines opened all the way up until a couple hours before the fight, but he closed at +105, and those who waited to play him made out nicely.
