‘Wonderboy’ is a short favorite in rematch with Woodley
Tyron Woodley is a +105 underdog for his rematch with Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson at UFC 209.
Published on Thursday, 1/12/17, at 2:19 p.m. Eastern.
Tyron Woodley and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson are set to headline UFC 209 in a rematch for Woodley’s welterweight strap. These fighters fought to a majority draw in the co-main event at UFC 205, as two judges scored it 47-47 while a third had it 48-47 for Woodley.
Woodley retained his belt that he won from ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler by first-round knockout at UFC 201.
As of early Thursday afternoon, 5Dimes had Thompson installed as a -125 favorite, leaving the champ at +105 on the comeback (risk $100 to win $105). The odds just came out yesterday and there’s no total yet.
Although it’s not official yet, Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov is expected to be the UFC 209 co-main event. Mark Hunt will also face Alistair Overeem in a heavyweight scrap on the main card.
That’s presuming Hunt isn’t taken off the card after filing a civil lawsuit yesterday against Dana White, the UFC and Brock Lesnar, who tested positive for banned substances before (and on fight night) defeating Hunt by UD at UFC 200. The results of the positive tests didn’t come back from the lab until a few days after the fight.
UFC Fight Night 103 will be Sunday night on Fox Sports 1. The prelims start at 8:00 Eastern and the main card gets going at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Therefore, you can go from your NFL bets right into your UFC plays.
I haven’t handicapped the entire card, but I know I’ll have at least two units on Joe Lauzon (currently -120 at 5Dimes) and one unit on ‘under’ 2.5 rounds (for a nice +150 return) for Lauzon’s lightweight showdown vs. Marcin Held, who lost a unanimous decision to Diego ‘Nightmare’ Sanchez in his Octagon debut.
Lauzon scored a first-round KO win over Sanchez at UFC 200 before getting robbed of a decision against Jim Miller in the fall.
UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn has come out of retirement (again) to take on young Mexican phenom Yair Rodriguez (5-0 UFC) in Sunday’s main event. The 38-year-old Penn is 0-3-1 in his last four fights since capturing his last victory, a 23-second KO of Matt Hughes at UFC 123 at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Penn, who is the former lightweight and welterweight champ, will be fighting at 145 pounds for a second time. ‘The Prodigy’ made his featherweight debut in his last outing at TUF19 Finale in July of 2014 when Frankie Edgar beat him for a third time by third-round KO.
