The UFC 183 card is just hours away, and Anderson Silva has surged to a (-550) favorite over rival Nick Diaz, who is coming back at (+425). Nothing major happened as the two faced off, and both men made the middleweight limit.
That is not the case, however, with welterweights Kelvin Gastelum and Tyrone Woodley. Woodley held up his end of the bargain, coming in at 170.5 lbs, but Gastelum weight in at a big 180 lbs, a full nine pounds over the welterweight limit.
[related_post_two]
With Woodley coming in the favorite at (-160) and Gastelum at (+140) it will be interesting to see what happens. There will be some bettors that may have put some juice down on Woodley who may regret it. It is very rare to see anyone miss weight in the UFC by that much, and you won’t know what effect it has on Gastelum until after the fight. Nine pounds would seem that Gastelum either had something go wrong, or he did not even ty to cut the weight. It may favor him in terms of speed or it may be a problem, but this is more complicated than taking Gastelum’s Las Vegas buffet tickets away. If Gastelum is heading to the middleweight division, his shine as a prospect will be greatly diminished.
Silva was at around (-400) a few days ago, but Diaz has not really inspired much confidence. Diaz was once a betting favorite in his career, and he still has a following, but people are being more cautious about this one. Once upon a time, Diaz fought another legendary 185-pounder named Frank Shamrock, and he pulled that fight out with a win. Still, it’s too bad he didn’t come into this one with the same fire he showed back for that fight.
On the undercard, John Lineker missed weight by four lbs, which in the 125-pound flyweight class is almost as drastic. Lineker finds himself a (+205) favorite heading into the fight with “Uncle Creepy” Ian McCall. McCall is at (-245) and the winner of this bout is generally considered to be heading for a title shot against Demetrious Johnson, so if Lineker avoided a taxing weight loss and feels rested and strong, it may be to his advantage.
[related_post_one]
In both cases, the fighters forfeit 30 percent of their purse to the opponent, but that may not be enough to deter a fighter from games in weight cutting.
Check out the UFC’s latest video leading up to tonight’s UFC 183:
