UFC Fight Night 123 Odds – The UFC is in California this weekend for Fight Night 123 headlined by the featherweight five rounder between Cub Swanson and Brian Ortega. The main fights on the card are set to air on Fox Sports 1.
Hopeful contenders Cub Swanson and Brian Ortega are bucking for position in the 145 lb weight class as we enter a post-Conor McGregor world. The title has settled into the hands of Max Holloway, who as the new titleholder has sealed his hold on the belt with a pair of wins over Jose Aldo. That means that at 145 pounds, everyone is chasing Holloway now.
A win would give Swanson a pretty good case to be in the next title shot. A win will give him five wins in a row since his April of 2015 loss to Holloway. Prior to that he fell to former lightweight UFC champion Frankie Edgar in a fight where he was stopped in the final five seconds, so the Holloway loss was two losses in a row. A five fight win streak should be enough to put that behind him.
Bolstering Swanson’s case is the fact that the two losses he took where preceded by a six fight winning streak. An 11-2 mark in his last thirteen fights is strong by any measure and at 34 years old, this may be Swanson’s last run.
In Ortega, Swanson is facing a guy who is eight years younger at 26 and undefeated at 12-0. Ortega won his UFC debut in less than two minutes, but the fight was overturned to a No Contest because of a failed PED test and Ortega was suspended for nine months.
Ortega has gone 4-0 since returning from the suspension, finishing all of those fights inside the distance. What makes it more impressive is that the wins came against the likes of Diego Brandao, Thiago Tavares and Clay Guida, all veteran fighters with over 25 career fights each. That experience for Ortega negates Swanson’s big advantage in experience on paper.
A second featherweight fight sits in the co-feature spot as Jason Knight takes on Gabriel Benitez. Knight entered the UFC with a loss to Tatsuya Kawajiri but he reeled off four wins in a row afterwards. Unfortunately for Knight, he was knocked out by Ricardo Lamas in his last outing this past July, so this fight is about avoiding the dreaded losing streak.
Benitez is 19-6 overall but his has gone just 3-2 with the UFC. He has struggled with consistency and with layoffs of over six months between fights. The UFC would dearly love for some of their Mexican talent to break through but at this point we have seen enough of Benitez to know he is not “the guy.” Maybe he can change that perception with a win on Saturday.
Below are the odds for the main fights at around mid-fight week. Check back closer to the fights for changes and under card odds.
UFC Fight Night 123 – SaveMart Center – Fresno, California – FS1
Featherweight 5 rounds –
Brian Ortega -115 o2½ -220
Cub Swanson -105 u2½ +180
Featherweight 3 rounds –
Gabriel Benitez +250 o2½ -140
Jason Knight -300 u2½ +120
Bantamweight 3 rounds –
Aljamain Sterling +150 o2½ -255
Marlon Moraes -170 u2½ +215
Lightweight 3 rounds –
Scott Holtzman -115 o2½ -225
Darrell Horcher -105 u2½ +185
Middleweight 3 rounds –
Markus Perez +245 o2½ +110
Eryk Anders -290 u2½ -130
Bantamweight 3 rounds –
Albert Morales -110 o2½ -160
Benito Lopez -110 u2½ +140
UFC Fight Night 123 Odds / Into boxing as well? Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science.
[related_post_one]
The NFL playoffs are right around the corner. Get all your football info right here.
