UFC 72: Victory - Fight Preview and Bodog Odds

UFC 72: Victory will take place on June 16th, 2007 at The Odyssey in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This will be the third UFC event to take place in the United Kingdom and the first to be held in Ireland. Here’s how the card is currently shaping up:

UFC 72 CARD

Rich “Ace” Franklin vs. Yushin Okami (Middleweight)

Forrest Griffin vs. Hector “Sick Dog” Ramirez (Light Heavyweight)

Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida (Lightweight)

Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald vs. Rory “Outburst” Singer (Middleweight)

Tom Murphy vs. Jake O’Brien (Heavyweight)

Eddie Sanchez vs. Colin Robinson (Heavyweight)

Dustin Hazelett vs. Stevie “The Smiling Assassin” Lynch (Welterweight)

Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis vs. Jason Tan (Welterweight)

Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith vs. Ed “Short Fuse” Herman (Middleweight)

RICH FRANKLIN VS. YUSHIN OKAMI

Franklin was originally scheduled to fight Martin Kampmann, but the fight had to be changed when Kampmann suffered an injury.

Rich Franklin is the former UFC Middleweight champion. The ex-math teacher lost the title in brutal fashion to Anderson “The Spider” Silva at UFC 64. In that fight, Franklin found himself locked in a Thai-clinch and forced to endure a series of devastating knees. Following the fight, he had to undergo surgery to repair a nasal fracture.

In his return fight, Franklin defeated Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald by TKO after his opponent’s corner threw in the towel between the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Afterwards, it was announced that Franklin will receive a rematch at some point in the future with Silva.

In the meantime, he will face off against Yushin Okami. Okami made his UFC debut at UFC 62, defeating Alan Belcher by unanimous decision. Then, at UFC 64, he defeated Kalib Starnes by TKO. He forced Rory Singer to submit due to strikes at UFC 66, and we later went on to beat Mike Swick at UFC 69.

Currently, the Bodog odds for this fight stand as follows:

Rich Franklin -200

Yushin Okami +160

FORREST GRIFFIN VS. HECTOR RAMIREZ

Griffin has suffered some tough losses as of late, but he continues to bounce back. After losing a controversial decision to Tito Ortiz in April of 2006, he rebounded to win a decision victory over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 62. At UFC 66, he was upset by Keith Jardine and suffered a TKO loss at 4:41 of the first round.

His opponent, Hector Ramirez, lost his UFC debut at UFC 65. His overall MMA record is 6-2-1. With Griffin being such a fan favorite, there’s no doubt that Ramirez was selected to be a tough but very beatable opponent for Forrest. Of course, the world of MMA has shown that almost anybody can defeat anybody else on a given night. Still, when the odds are released for this one, expect Forrest Griffin to be the overwhelming favorite.

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UFC Flashback - UFC 1: The Beginning

UFC 69 Results

UFC 72: Victory - Fight Preview and Bodog Odds