UFC 200 Date: July 9, 2016 Arena: T-Mobile Arena City: Las Vegas, NV The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will be in the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday July 9th, 2016 with UFC 200, the most stacked card in the promotion’s history with 12 exciting bouts, including three title fights and the return of Brock Lesnar. The main card will be kicking off at 10pm ET on Pay Per View, with preliminary action preceding it on FOX Sports 1 at 8pm ET and UFC Fight Pass at 6:30pm ET. If interested in wagering on these plays, or any plays for this fight card, all betting lines will be made available at Several Bookmakerss. Here are my live dogs: Heavyweight bout: Brock Lesnar (+140) vs Mark Hunt (-160) Gabe’s Thoughts: Obviously, this is a classic “striker vs grappler” match-up, with Hunt being the striker and Lesnar being the grappler. What this comes down to is if Lesnar will be able to take Hunt down, and I think he will. I see Lesnar taking him down early and likely putting him away within the first stanza, either via T/KO or a strong-man kimura. I don’t think Hunt can stop the takedown, so the question is if he will be able to catch Lesnar with a strike while he’s coming in, and while it’s possible, I am betting against. Gabe’s Call: Lesnar by Submission (Kimura, 1:01 round 1) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Lesnar (+140) 2.25u to win 3.15u Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks (-160) vs Kelvin Gastelum (+140) Gabe’s Thoughts: Hendricks is coming off a first round TKO loss to Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and Gastelum has dropped back to back decisions to Tyron Woodley and Neil Magney, so both fighters need a win here to remain relevant in the UFC’s 170-pound division. The former champ is currently without a gym and is just hiring coaches and training partners. That proved to be a fatal mistake against Thompson and I think it could be costly in this match-up against Gastelum, as well. While Gastelum is much less likely to finish the fight than Thompson was, he is a young fighter who is constantly improving, so that outcome would not be totally shocking, especially considering that Hendricks may already be on somewhat of a decline. To conclude, I think this is a close fight but personally think Gastelum should be slightly favored, as at his current underdog price of +140, I do favor him for a wager. I predict he defeats Hendricks on the scorecards and my guess is that after falling 0-2 at 170-pounds, Hendricks makes his next appearance in the UFC’s middleweight division. Gabe’s Call: Gastelum by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: Gastelum (+140) 1.75u to win 2.45u
