UFC 187 Picks & Preview

Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer will spice up an already loaded UFC 187 card on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer will spice up an already loaded UFC 187 card on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Published on Friday, 5/22/15, at 7:02 p.m. Eastern.
Updated on Saturday, 5/23/15, at 9:44 a.m. Eastern.

Here’s my UFC 187 preview filed to VegasInsider.com earlier today.

3 Picks:

1- UNDER 2.5 rounds for 4 UNITS (+115) on Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone vs. John Makdessi.

2- UNDER 1.5 rounds for 2.5 UNITS (-125) on Travis Browne vs. Andrei Arlovski.

3- PROP BET (5Dimes) for Chris Weidman to beat Vitor Belfort by TKO/KO for 1 UNIT at +150.

**Octagon Nuggets**

–UFC women’s bantamweight champ ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey had a busy week. She was featured on HBO’s Real Sports and also graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. Rousey is currently installed as a -1250 favorite for her UFC 190 showdown (and debut appearance in Brazil) against Bethe Correia, who is a +800 underdog at 5Dimes. Sportsbook.ag has Rousey as an enormous -1500 ‘chalk.’

–In my preview on VI (link above at top of this page), I noted what a monster underdog Vitor Belfort is tonight against Chris Weidman. This is the second-richest underdog spot of his career (+400ish). His best available price in his loss to Jon Jones was +700, but Belfort nearly won that fight with an armbar in the first round.

Chris-Weidma-vs-Vitor-Belfort-weigh-750–There was a heated exchange between Weidman and Belfort as they squared off at Friday’s weigh-ins. When Joe Rogan asked Weidman what he was saying to Belfort, Weidman said, “I found out his testosterone levels were around 1200 during his camp and he’s still cheating. I’m going to make him pay for it [tonight].” Weidman later told Fox Sports 1’s Ariel Helwani, “I’m going to finish him and it’s going to happen early.”

–With the exception of the tight number for Cormier-Johnson in the main event, the least expensive favorite on the entire 12-fight card is ‘The Stun Gun’ in the -240/260 range.

–Travis Browne used to train at the Jackson-Winkeljohn camp in Albuquerque, where Arlovski is currently a member of that team. After his loss to Fabricio Werdum, Browne joined Rousey’s gym (Glendale Fight Club) in California. Winkeljohn told Bloody Elbow this week, “You know what’s funny, [Browne] never really told us. He said he was just checking it out and stuff. I think he was just scared to tell us, honestly. We like Travis, but whatever. He’s not on the team anymore, and Andrei’s our guy.”

–You can check out the sixth and final clip of the UFC’s Embedded series for UFC 187 by clicking here. (Hat Tip to my man Jason Floyd & the staff over at themmareport.com.)

–You can follow these current odds that will remain updated throughout the day leading into each fight tonight.
UFC 187: Johnson vs. Cormier odds - BestFightOdds

–And we’ll leave you with a picture of our favorite Octagon Gal, Arianny Celeste. Enjoy the fights and best of luck with your wagers!

arianny-celeste-fitness-gurls-09

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