UFC Fight Night 89: MacDonald vs Thompson Date: June 18, 2016 Arena: The Arena at TD Place City: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heads to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for the first time in promotional history with UFC Fight Night 89: MacDonald vs Thompson. The 13-fight card kicks off with the UFC Fight Pass prelims at 6:45pm ET, with televised prelims to follow on FOX Sports 1 at 8:30pm ET and the main card getting going at 10:30pm 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 are: Light Heavyweight bout: Sean O’Connell (+130) vs Steve Bosse (-150) Gabe’s Thoughts: This is a rare “winner vs loser” match-up in the UFC’s 205-pound division, with O’Connell coming off a first round knockout loss at the hands of Ilir Latifi and Bosse coming off a first round knockout of James Te-Huna, ultimately sending the veteran into retirement. I agree with the current betting odds in that this is a close fight, except I personally think O’Connell should be a very slight -130 betting favorite, with Bosse being an ever-so-slight +110 underdog to win. That makes this fight a “dog or pass” situation in my eyes, and I thought about taking a small stab on O’Connell but I ended up deciding to skip this one and move on to the next. There are too many question marks surrounding both fighters to confidently go either way. If you want to gamble, I think you have to take the dog, but I don’t think this is a fight worth gambling on. Best to sit back and enjoy watching them try to knock each others blocks off! Avoid this one, folks. Gabe’s Call: O’Connell by T/KO (punches, 4:34 round 1) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID Middleweight bout: Krzysztof Jotko (+200) vs Tamdan McRory (-240) Gabe’s Thoughts: I think this fight is much closer than the betting odds currently indicate and in fact see it as a “dog or pass” situation. I cannot fault anyone for taking a shot on Jotko at 2-to-1 underdog odds, but personally, I am going to opt to pass. While I think Jotko holds value at +200, I think more often than not McRory finds a submission or edges it out on the judges’ scorecards. Needless to say, I am leaning towards McRory for my pick, but as for an official bet, I cannot take him at his current offering price of -240, and can’t quite pull the trigger on Jotko at +200; so ultimately this has to be a fight I avoid at the sportsbooks come Saturday. Gabe’s Call: McRory by Submission (guillotine choke, 3:04 round 1) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID
