Rockhold vs Branch Odds – The UFC is at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh for a Fight Night card that is set to air on Fox Sports 1. The main event of Saturday’s fight card sees former champions clash as Luke Rockhold takes on David Branch.
Rockhold is a former UFC middleweight titleholder, but he has not fought in more than fifteen months. He is a stud athlete that usually dominates in his fights, until he gets hit. He is 15-3 in his MMA career but all three of those losses come by way of knock out, including his last outing where he lost the UFC middleweight title to Michael “The Count” Bisping.
It is in the layoff and the loss to Bisping that questions about Rockhold exist. Rockhold took a loss in his UFC debut when he was knocked out by Vitor Belfort, but he had won two in a row hading into his first match with Bisping. Bisping is a solid veteran who never cracked the title picture despite a 20 plus fight career and in November of 2014 he faced Rockhold the first time and Rockhold ran Bisping over. Rochold went on to win the middleweight belt with a big win over Chris Weidman and the KO loss to Belfort was forgotten.
Meanwhile, Bisping bounced back and finally earned a title shot against Rockhold after defeating the great Anderson Silva. Rockhold was on top of the world and the bottom line is he looked past Bisping and he wound up getting knocked out by “The Count.” Rockhold hasn’t fought since, and frankly he is going to have to employ a more defensive style, ala Wladimir Klitschko in boxing, to hide his glass chin.
Despite the odds having Rockhold a comfortable favorite, David Branch is no joke. Branch has been flying under the radar for a few years while he was fighting with the World Series of Fighting. He dominated two weight classes with the WSOF, winning their middleweight and light heavyweight titles. Branch came over to the UFC earlier this year and he won a tough split decision over European prospect Krzystof Jotko to set up this showdown with Rockhold.
Branch is big at 6’3 and that physicality could see him nullify some of Rockhold’s attributes, especially if Rockhold is tentative.
Bisping has parlayed his title reign into a big money fight with the returning George St Pierre in early November but lying in wait for a shot at the middleweight title will be Rockhold or Branch, depending on who wins Saturday night. With all due respect to Bisping, either Brnach or Rockhold would both be favored in a title fight against the current champion. Should St Pierre defeat Bisping, then the middleweight title picture becomes a lot more chaotic.
Below are odds and the over/underlines for the UFN 116 main card, set to air on Fox Sports 1 this Saturday night. Check your local listings for start times.
UFC Fight Night 116 – PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – FS1
Middleweight 5 rounds –
Luke Rockhold -450 o2½ -135
David Branch +360 u2½ +115
Welterweight 3 rounds –
Thiago Alves +110 o1½ -170
Mike Perry -150 u1½ +130
Middleweight 3 rounds –
Anthony Smith -130 o1½ -145
Hector Lombard -110 u1½ +105
Lightweight 3 rounds –
Jason Gonzalez +340 o1½ -160
Gregor Gillespie -510 u1½ +120
Welterweight 3 rounds –
Sergio Moraes +334 o2½ -210
Kamaru Usman -500 u2½ +160
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