Two fun fights have been added to UFC Fight Night 73, which goes down August 8 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and for today’s MMA Odds and Ends I will give a quick look at both bouts. Derek Brunson vs. Sam Alvey, UFC Fight Night 73 A middleweight fight featuring Derek Brunson and Sam Alvey is sure to guarantee excitement. Brunson hasn’t got much respect from the betting public yet, but he’s 4-1 in the UFC with his only loss to Yoel Romero and overall he’s looked fantastic, especially in his most recent win, a knockout loss over the iron-chinned Ed Herman. Prior to that, he defeated Lorenz Larkin, and overall he’s outperformed expectations since coming over from Strikeforce. As for Alvey, he’s 3-1 in the UFC and has won his last three-straight fights via TKO after dropping his debut to Tom Watson. He has a ton of knockout power and seems to be improving every time we see him. He still has issues with inactivity, but his knockout power is insane and Brunson is a guy who is notorious for having an iffy chin, which makes for a intriguing fight. I think Brunson is a better overall fighter, and he should be able to outwrestle Alvey here, but his iffy chin combined with Alvey’s KO power makes this a tough one to call. I slightly lean Brunson due to his edge in wrestling, but expect a very close line when the odds come out. Ian McCall vs. Dustin Ortiz, UFC Fight Night 73 A flyweight fight between Ian McCall and Dustin Ortiz will also take place on this card. Just a few years ago McCall was one of the top flyweights in the world but he has been inconsistent in the UFC, going 2-3-1 overall in the promotion. He is coming off of a loss against John Lineker, but his opponent missed weight in that fight so it’s not fair to completely write him off just yet after one bad performance. Considering this is a guy who brought Demetrious Johnson to the brink of defeat at one point, he’s definitely not someone to sleep on despite his recent struggles. As for Ortiz, he’s 3-2 in the UFC and coming off of a loss to Joseph Benavidez in his last outing. It’s fair to see he has performed beyond expectations in the UFC, so credit to him, but all three of his wins were in very close fights, and McCall is not an easy opponent to bounce back off of. Flyweight fights are always tricky to predict, and McCall looked terrible against Lineker, but I still think you have to lean with him to get the win here. As far as the odds go, I’d imagine McCall is around 2-to-1 or possibly a bit higher as he looked to rebound off of Ortiz and get back in the win column.
