The UFC returned with it’s debut in Salt Lake City last night (Saturday, August 6th, 2016) for a free event on Fox Sports 1. The card was headlined by a featherweight fight between Yair Rodriguez and Alex Caceres. All in all, nine favorites won, while one upset occurred and there were two pick’em fights. Here’s how everything played out based on the Several Bookmakers closing odds: Favorites That Won In a featherweight main event scrap, Yair Rodriguez and Alex Caceres traded wild and unorthodox strikes in an extremely competitive and entertaining five-round bout. Rodriguez’s pace definitely slowed down after the first two action-packed rounds, but he was still able to stand toe-to-toe with Caceres, ultimately winning a split decision. Rodriguez was victorious as a -320 favorite (bet $320 to win $100) while Caceres couldn’t quite pull it out as a +290 underdog. In a featherweight contest, Dennis Bermudez put on a wrestling clinic against Rony Jason. Bermudez picked up takedown after takedown, smashing Jason with elbows and punches on the ground while avoiding submission attempts. Jason had an opening late in the third round but couldn’t take full advantage and went on to lose a unanimous decision. Bermudez won as a -290 favorite while Jason was +260. In a middleweight bout, Thales Leites utilized his superior ground game to dominate Chris Camozzi, avoiding the stand-up almost entirely. Leites eventually overwhelmed Camozzi and picked up a rear naked choke in the third round to score a finish. Leites was a -170 favorite while Camozzi was a +160 underdog. In a competitive strawweight bout, Maryna Moroz utilized her length and superior pace to earn a victory against Danielle Taylor. Taylor rocked Moroz in the second round, but didn’t throw enough volume to keep up and threaten anything else. Moroz was the winner as a -265 favorite while Taylor lost at +245. In the preliminary card headliner, Court McGee hurt welterweight opponent Dominique Steele with one of his first punches, nearly finishing the fight via submission in the first round, but Steele hung on to last all three. In the end, McGee outworked Steele enough to win a unanimous decision. Krylov closed at -230 while Herman was a +210 dog. In a bloody lightweight scrap, David Teymur got the better of Jason Novelli. Teymur opened up a cut on Novelli, then put him away with heavy strikes at the midway point of the second round. Teymur was a -135 favorite while Novelli was +125. In a featherweight contest, Teruto Ishihara got into a huge slugfest against Horacio Gutierrez. Ishihara landed a huge bomb and put Gutierrez out to win by knockout in the first round. Ishihara was victorious as a -220 favorite while Gutierrez was +200. In a featherweight bout, Cub Swanson stayed out of grappling trouble against Tatsuya Kawajiri, winning a semi-competitive unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards. Swanson was victorious as a -315 favorite while Sandoval lost at +285. In the opening bout of the night, Justin Ledet utilized his superior striking to outwork and outpace an overmatched Chase Sherman over the course of three rounds in both fighters’ UFC heavyweight debuts. Ledet held serve as a slight -115 favorite while Sherman was even +105. Underdogs That Won In a middleweight fight, Trevor Smith took away UFC newcomer Joseph Gigliotti’s power by repeatedly closing the distance in the clinch and working for takedowns. Gigliotti is a dangerous fighter, but he never had a very good opportunity to repeatedly land big strikes against Smith, who worked a terrific gameplan to pick up the victory. Smith was victorious as a +115 (Bet $100 to win $115) underdog while Gigliotti was -105. Pick ’em Fights In a welterweight scrap, Santiago Ponzinibbio utilized superior volume, technique and diversity of striking while avoiding Zak Cummings’ takedowns to dominate the American and win a one-sided decision. Both fighters closed at pick ’em -105 odds. In a heavyweight battle, Viktor Pesta and Marcin Tybura had a competitive first round, but Tybura landed a beautiful head kick early in the second round to put Pesta out cold. Both fighters closed at dead even -105.
