UFC Fight Night 80 took place last night (Thursday, December 10, 2015) at the Chealsea inside the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada and was headlined by a strawweight contest between Rose Namajunas and Paige VanZant. Overall from a betting perspective, eight favorites won while three underdogs came through and there was one no contest according to the closing odds at Several Bookmakers. Here’s a quick recap for each fight. Favorites That Won In the co-main event of the evening, Michael Chiesa survived a scare in the first round to eventually score the biggest victory of his career against Jim Miller. Miller reversed a bad position to take Chiesa’s back for the final two minutes of the first round, but Chiesa hurt him with ground strikes in the second frame and eventually latched on a rear naked choke to force the veteran to tap out. Chiesa was a -140 (Bet $140 to win $100) betting favorite and Miller was +130 (Bet $100 to win $200). In the lightweight division, Sage Northcutt bounced back after showing signs he was human in the first round against Cody Pfister. Pfister scored an early takedown and Northcutt was only able to get back up after a controversial referee stand-up. Northcutt took the judges out of the equation in the second round with a nasty guillotine choke which forced Pfister to tap out early in the second frame. Northcutt came through as a massive -905 favorite while Pfister came up short as a +705 underdog. In a welterweight battle, Tim Means absolutely slaughtered John Howard with a vicious knockout early in the second round. Howard stepped forward directly into a counter left hook which put “Doomsday” out cold on the canvas. Means was victorious as a -385 betting favorite while Howard was a +345 dog. In a bantamweight bout, Aljamain Sterling kept his unbeaten streak alive by scoring late takedowns against Johnny Eduardo, eventually forcing the Brazilian to tap out to a nasty guillotine choke near the end of the second round. Sterling was victorious as the second biggest favorite of the night at -600 while Eduardo was tapped out at +500. In the welterweight division, Santiago Ponzinibbio completely dominated Andreas Stahl. Stahl seemed out of the fight from the beginning and wasn’t able to hang with the active Brazilian on the feet, eventually getting TKO’d near the end of the first round. Ponzinibbio came through as the -165 favorite while Stahl lost as the +155 underdog. In a welterweight bout, Nathan Coy took Danny Roberts down, but paid for it by getting locked in a tight triangle choke which forced the American Top Team fighter to tap out. Roberts came through as the -150 favorite while +140 underdog Nathan Coy was submitted. Featherweight Zubaira Tukhugov kept his undefeated UFC streak rolling by outworking Philippe Nover over the course of three rounds, easily taking a relatively one-sided unanimous decision when it came time to go to the judges. Tukhugov came through as the -340 favorite while Nover as the +310 underdog. In the opening bout of the evening in the strawweight division, Kailin Curren overcame a tough start against Emily Kagen. Kagen pushed a high pace in the first round but ran out of gas and was submitted as she faded in the second. Curran was victorious as the favorite -340 while Kagen lost as the +310 underdog. Underdogs That Won In the main event of the evening, Rose Namajunas lived up the the lofty expectations let upon her from her appearance on The Ultimate Fighter season 20 by absolutely dominating Paige VanZant over the course of five rounds, eventually putting “12 Gauge” away in the final frame with a rear naked choke. Namajunas was technically superior everywhere, landing better strikes and dishing out a ton of damage from top position on the ground. VanZant was game, escaping several tight submission attempts, but she couldn’t squirm free of the last choke. Namajunas looked amazing as a +125 dog while VanZant lost as a -135 betting favorite. Middleweight Thiago Santos weathered the early storm from Elias Theodorou, getting outstruck early, but he hung tough and started blistering the Canadian with some heavy knees and elbows on the inside before really punishing Theodorou in a very one-sided third round. Santos cashed as the +195 underdog while Theodorou fell short as the -215 favorite. In the welterweight division, Sergio Moraes overcame being down two rounds to score the biggest comeback of the night against Omari Akhmedov. Moraes had been dropped in the first round and was on his way to losing a decision before connecting with a heavy left hand that hurt the Russian. Moraes swarmed and put him away to pick up the finish he absolutely needed. Moraes comes through as the +130 underdog, while Akhmedov failed to cash as the -140 favorite. No Contests The middleweight bout between Antonio Carlos Jr and Kevin Casey ended almost before it began as Carlos Jr connected with a nasty eye poke in the first exchange of the fight. Casey was unable to continue and the bout was stopped, resulting in a no contest. The odds closed with Carlos Jr being a -295 favorite while Casey was a +265 underdog.
