UFC Fight Night 96 Main Card Odds – The UFC is in Portland, Oregon this weekend with the UFN 96 card set to air on Fox Sports 1.
The main event is five rounds in the bantamweight division as John Dodson (18-7) faces John Lineker (28-7). Both men are standouts from the Flyweight (125-pound) division, and it is likely a good thing that both men are campaigning at 135 pounds, at least for this one. Lineker is the hot hand heading into this fight, as he has a solid five-fight winning streak and he is coming off a KO of Michael McDonald, also as a bantam.
Dodson is 7-2 in the UFC and his two losses are to the all-world Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. He has gone 50 minutes total with Johnson, but the truth is no one is really interested in seeing a third bout between the two. Dodson is headed north to bantamweight. In his last fight, he faced veteran Manny Gamburyan at 135 and it was a wipe out, with Dodson scoring the KO in the first minute of the fight.
Both men clearly retained their explosiveness moving up in weight, but there will be a question about whether Dodson can handle the bigger fighters in the division, such as TJ Dillashaw or Renan Barao. Lineker naturally has a bigger frame and it will show in the fight.
In the co-feature bout, former Bellator stand-out Will Brooks (18-1) returns to face off against octagon veteran Alex Oliveira (14-4-1). Brooks has a fantastic record and with a 9-1 record in Bellator, but he came over to the UFC back in July and started off on the mid-card, defeating veteran Ross Pearson. here he takes a step up into the co-feature bout, and he meets Oliveira, the Brazilian “cowboy.” Oliveira is 4-2 in the UFC and in the scope of things, is another mid-tier fighter on the level of Pearson. Brooks is fighting on relatively short notice as he looks to move up the rankings.
It is interesting to note that former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez currently holds the UFC’s Lightweight title. Brooks and Alvarez never met under the Bellator promotion and Alvarez is currently scheduled to defend his UFC belt against Conor McGregor at UFC 205, but if Brooks can get himself into the title picture for a showdown with Alvarez, it could be a battle of Bellator alumni for the UFC’s Lightweight title.
Trying to get his UFC career jump started is former WSOF standout Josh Burkman (28-13), who is 1-3 in his last 4 UFC fights. For this fight he gets Zak Ottow (13-3), who is making his UFC debut. Burkman is fighting just 3 days short of his 36th birthday, so if he is going to make a last run in the UFC he needs to start with a win here.
UFC Fight Night 96 Main Card Odds
Below are the Ultimate Fight Night 96 odds for the main card fights. Check local listings for start times on Fox Sports 1. Check out the latest Talk’n’Shoot video blog for more details.
Bantamweight 5 rounds –
John Dodson -120 o2½ -120
John Lineker +100 u2½ +100
Lightweight 3 rounds –
Alex Oliveira +210 o2½ -190
Will Brooks -250 u2½ +165
Flyweight 3 rounds –
Brandon Moreno +300 o1½ -185
Louis Smolka -420 u1½ +145
Lightweight 3 rounds –
Zak Ottow +185 o2½ -140
Josh Burkman -265 u2½ +100
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