WSOF 23 Date: September 18, 2015 Arena: Comerica Theatre City: Phoenix, AZ The World Series of Fighting (WSOF) returns to Phoenix, AZ with WSOF 23: Gaethje vs Palomino II. The event will be stacked with 12-scheduled bouts, including a five fight main card set to kick off at 10pm ET on the NBC Sports Network and preliminary action set to stream online starting at 7pm ET. If interested in wagering on any bouts for this fight card, all betting lines will be made available at Several Bookmakerss. My Fights to AVOID betting for WSOF 23 are: Lightweight bout: Brian Foster (-160) vs Larue Burley (+110) Gabe’s Thoughts: After losing to Jake Shields via rear naked choke submission, Foster is moving down from welterweight to the lightweight division, and greeting him will be the undefeated Burley, who is the first man to defeat Bubba Jenkins. He was a massive underdog in that bout, and I picked and bet him to defeat Jenkins, and that bout went as I predicted, with Jenkins gassing and getting finished late in the bout. Burley has gone on to win every bout since and now faces the biggest test of his professional mixed martial arts career in the veteran Foster. I believe this to be a coin-flip fight, so at the current betting odds, I cannot justify a wager on either side. If Burley was +150 or better, I would think about a play, but at the current prices, I think I am better off avoiding this one at the sportsbook. This is a classic “prospect vs veteran” match-up and I am interesting in seeing how things play out, so rather than gambling for no value, I think the best option is to sit back and enjoy. Gabe’s Call: DRAW (28-29, 29-28, 29-29) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID Middleweight bout: Clifford Starks (-175) vs Krasimir Mladenov (+135) Gabe’s Thoughts: I see this as a complete “dog or pass” situation, and I thought about making a move on the dog Mladenov at his current offering price of +135, but I ultimately opted against it. I think this is going to be a close fight that likely plays out for three rounds and gets completely left in the hands of the judges at cage-side. This is another scrap I think should be avoided at the sportsbooks tomorrow night. Gabe’s Call: Mladenov by Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID
