Q & Anik is an article featured exclusively at MMAOddsBreaker.com that goes five rounds with UFC commentator Jon Anik offering his betting tips and picks on some of the biggest UFC cards of the year. 
1st Round Q: UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the organization, yet his popularity among MMA fans seems to be keeping him from becoming a star. At UFC 190, Ronda Rousey proved again that dominating opponents is the best way to gain more attention, and even the two women’s divisions are proving to be more accepted than the 125-pound men. Do you agree with that statement, and what can we expect from DJ in the main event at UFC 191? Anik: On any given Saturday night, this guy is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves in some part because flyweight is still a relatively new division, and there is just some segment of the MMA and combat sports fan base that doesn’t enjoy watching guys that small fight. That attitude results in you missing out on witnessing history. What Demetrious Johnson has done already with six consecutive title defenses already puts him in some pretty elite company. His goal is to set the record for the most successive title defenses, and I really believe he’s well on his way. I think people don’t realize, when he was fighting in the WEC, he wasn’t even a full-time fighter for much of that time. He was working in a warehouse while a lot of these other guys that he was beating were full-time fighters. It’s really been over the last few years that DJ has been able to focus solely on Mixed Martial Arts, and of course the results speak for themselves. He just brings everything to the table. For me, it’s just disappointing when we focus more on TV ratings than Demetrious Johnson the fighter. I think it’s frustrating not just for him, but for all of us associated with the UFC that when DJ fights – a guy who most of our commentators believe is the best fighter in any division fighting right now – that the narrative is that people don’t necessarily want to watch him. I just don’t quite understand it. Short of becoming some arrogant, cocky a-hole that he’s not, I’m just not sure what else he can do. If you want to let your fighting do the talking, nobody’s been better over the last two years than Demetrious Johnson. I don’t know what else he can do with his hands and his feet than what he has done. I’m hoping that we’ll do a pretty good Pay-Per-View number, and people who haven’t seen Demetrious Johnson before will get the chance to see him and see him really shine. 2nd Round Q: John Dodson knocked down DJ three times in the first fight, which took place nearly three years ago, but he has fought just three times since then compared to five times for the champion. What does Dodson have going for him that could enable him to win the rematch despite being fairly inactive recently? Anik: There’s got to be some segment of the MMA fan base that sees Dodson in that +400 range and salivates because he dropped Demetrious Johnson three times in that first fight. I think he has one clear way to win, and that’s to test that chin of Demetrious Johnson, use his power, use his takedown defense to stay upright and knock him out. I don’t believe he’ll out-point DJ over five rounds, I don’t think he’s going to submit him, so he’s got to be that powerful athlete that he is. To me, it’s just hard to advocate a play on anybody against Demetrious Johnson, even guys up at 135 pounds right now. I just think DJ’s current form and his championship experience will prevail. It’s really spectacular the way Johnson puts it all together. Mentally, he seems to be a step ahead, and physically he’s a beast in all facets of the game. What you’re going to see this weekend is that since Dodson and Johnson fought for the first time in 2013, both of these guys have improved a lot. The public perception is perhaps that Dodson will have closed the gap, and I sort of think that DJ is somewhat comparable to Ronda Rousey from the standpoint that, as all these other flyweight contenders try to close the gap, it only gets broader because he continues to improve as well. I think he and (trainer) Matt Hume, that’s the best 1-2 punch in the game when it comes to chief corner and fighter. I just think that he’s going to reign for a long time. This is obviously a serious challenge this weekend, you don’t want to mess around with Dodson’s power. But DJ at -500, he deserves that distinction for sure. 3rd Round Q: The co-main event features two resurgent heavyweights who have surprisingly put themselves into position for a title shot with another win or two. Both are also former champions, so who do you view as more of a serious contender in this matchup between Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir and why? Anik: I’m blown away by the fact that these guys have both fought their way into a heavyweight title eliminator. Of course they’ve done it in different ways, but the resurgence for Frank Mir, in particular, is just amazing. After he had lost to Alistair Overeem in February of 2014, if you would have told me that a year-and-a-half later he’d be in heavyweight title contention, I would have taken your action at whatever price. I think he was very close to retiring and now he seems, not just physically but mentally as confident in what he’s doing as he’s ever been. That said, I lean toward the favorite Andrei Arlovski here. And I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this fight end in the first round. I like Arlovski’s speed and athleticism and his instincts for the kill shot. Again, I have so much respect for Mir’s Hall-of-Fame career but I just think in this fight, I like the matchup for Arlovski. There are a lot of people picking Mir, and I certainly understand why. I guess my analysis on this fight comes down to what I thought the line would be relative to what it is. So when the fight was first announced, I’m thinking Arlovski is -220. So if you can get Arlovski at -150, I see value there. But I would also look at a first-round knockout prop. Seventeen of Frank Mir’s 27 pro fights have ended in the first round, so it’s always a good bet that his fights will end in the first round, win or lose. I would look at an UNDER prop in that fight regardless. 4th Round Q: Paige VanZant will open the main card on Pay-Per-View as the biggest favorite in UFC history for a fighter so young at only 21 years of age. She looks to be the future face of the women’s strawweight division, so what do you think of her opponent Alex Chambers, and how long before she gets a title shot? Anik: Without doing your homework, I bet you can safely say that nobody at that age has been that type of favorite. It’s not that Alex Chambers isn’t without skill, and she’s experienced…she’s nearly twice as old as Paige VanZant. But I really do believe Paige VanZant is a future title contender, and I think her physicality in this matchup is going to be the difference. And it’s just a massive advantage. It’s hard to say somebody is worthy of a distinction when it’s in that -2000 range, but if you’re looking at maybe throwing $10 on Alex Chambers, I would say you might as well just put $10 in your gas tank. Part of what the UFC is so masterful at doing is building certain careers the right way, methodically and deliberately, and letting fighters develop. If you look right now, (VanZant) is ranked No. 7 in the world, and I think her next fight could very well be a title eliminator. When I look at the girls above her, I’m very high on the Canadian Randa Markos, that’s a matchup I’d really like to see for Paige. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Paige fight for the title in 2016, and I think she has a great chance at winning. But (champion Joanna) Jedrzejczyk is incredible, some think she might be the best pure striker in the sport. 5th Round Q: Is there an underdog you really like on the UFC 191 card that you feel is overlooked and underrated? Anik: I picked Anthony Johnson to beat Daniel Cormier, and had AJ fought Jon Jones, it was probably going to be the first time in Jones’ career that I picked against him. So that tells you how highly I think of Anthony Johnson. All of that said, I’ve been watching YouTube clips of the Poster Boy (Jimi Manuwa) for a lot of years, and this fight is just awesome. I can’t wait to see this fight, and I do see a lot of value on Jimi Manuwa. I think this is a matchup of two of the Top 10 pure power threats in the sport, and I’m definitely interested to see if Manuwa’s technique can keep him in the fight long enough to withstand Johnson’s power and connect with one of his own fight-ending combinations. This line is whacked, and I do think, because of the high-profile nature of Johnson’s last two fights, the number got swollen here. Manuwa can finish any light heavyweight in the world. His only setback was Alexander Gustafsson, so I cannot wait to see that fight and +475 is absolutely crazy. Go make some money with that 5-to-1 dog. Disclaimer: Mr. Anik is contractually prevented from wagering on UFC events. His betting tips and picks posted here are for information and entertainment purposes only.
