The UFC confirmed a trio of matchups for the upcoming UFC 161 pay-per-view, including a newly announced bout between heavyweights Stipe Miocic and Soa “The Hulk” Palelei. Miocic (9-1) is coming off a TKO loss to Stefan Struve but he’s still one of the top prospects in the heavyweight division considering the impressive showings he had prior to the Struve fight against Joey Beltran, Phil de Fries and Shane del Rosario. Palelei (18-3), meanwhile, has won eight-straight fights on the regional circuit and it was enough to get him re-signed by the UFC (he fought once before for the promotion at UFC 79, losing to Eddie Sanchez via TKO). With the public hype behind “The Hulk,” expect Miocic to open as a small -150 favorite in this fight, with the comeback on Palelei being about +120. As well, the UFC officially announced light heavyweight matchups of Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, which MMAOddsbreaker reported yesterday. All three of these fights will air on the live pay-per-view card of UFC 161, but there will still be another top-shelf fight added as the UFC confirmed they are planning on have a title fight in the main event, with possible options including the next fight for UFC women’s bantamweight champion or UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao UFC on FX 8 Gets New Fights As well, a bunch of new fights were announced for the upcoming UFC on FX 8 card by a number of sources. The first is a light heavyweight fight between Fabio Maldonado and Roger Hollett, which TATAME.com reported. Maldonado (18-6) has lost three-straight fights but most observers of the sport know he was robbed in at least one of those fights by the judges and considering his impressive boxing background and toughness, he’ll certainly enter as a sizeable favorite over Hollett (13-4), who lost by decision in his UFC debut by Matt Hamill at UFC 152. Maldonado will likely be -250, with the comeback on Hollett being +200. Next up is a lightweight bout between John Cholish and Gleison Tibau, which Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com reported. Cholish (8-2) is coming off a loss to Danny Castillo back at UFC on FOX 5, while the veteran Tibau (26-9) was most recently outpointed by Evan Dunham at UFC 156. Considering Tibau’s experience in the UFC, one would have to imagine he will be a decent favorite in the range of -225 in this fight, with the comeback on Cholish being about +175 to start. And finally it’s a battle of bantamweight sluggers as Fransico Rivera and Hugo “Wolverine” Viana will throw down at UFC on FX 8 according to MMAWeekly.com. Rivera (9-2, 1 NC) is coming off an impressive TKO victory over Edwin Figueroa at UFC 156 and is unbeaten in his last three trips inside the Octagon. As for Viana (7-0), he’s currently on a two-fight win streak in the UFC, including a masterful KO of Reuben Duran at the TUF 16 Finale back in December. This should be a close line but I would expect Rivera to open as a slight favorite, perhaps -125 to -105 for Viana.
