UFC 81 - Full Card and Bodog Odds

The next UFC event is right around the corner. This Saturday, February 2nd, the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas will host UFC 81: Breaking Point. This card features some great matches, including Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia taking on Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira for the UFC Interim World Heavyweight Title. As it’s unlikely that Randy Couture will be returning, the winner of this bout will probably soon be crowned the full-time champ.

Former WWE Heavyweight Champion and NCAA wrestling champ Brock Lesnar will also make his UFC debut by taking on former champ Frank Mir in the main event. Jeremy Horn will return to the octagon, filling in for an injured Thales Leites in a match against Nate “The Great” Marquardt.

David Heath was originally supposed to take on Tomasz Drwal, but Drwal had to withdraw to a knee injury. Instead, Tim Boetsch will be stepping up to take on Heath.

FRANK MIR VS. BROCK LESNAR

This is an intriguing main event, as Mir has shown flashes of brilliance in the past but has also disappointed on occasion. Lesnar is a physical specimen with solid amateur wrestling credentials, but his MMA knowledge is still limited. Let’s take a brief look at each man.

Frank Mir

Standing 6’3” and weighing in at 255, Frank Mir calls himself “The Baddest Man on the Planet.” A former UFC Heavyweight Champion, he has a MMA record of 10-3. Of his wins, 6 were by submission, 2 by decision, 1 by knockout and the other was a DQ win. He holds wins over fighters such as Tim Sylvia, Tank Abbott and Wes Sims. His most recent win came against Antoni Hardonk.

In 2004, Mir suffered a broken femur and major ligament damage in a motorcycle accident. An interim title was created while he recover from his accident, but he was stripped of the title when he could not return after 14 months.

While he’s not likely to knock someone out, Mir is highly dangerous with submissions. On the flipside, all of his losses have come by TKO, so it’s best if he takes a fight to the ground. There have been questions about his conditioning in the past, as he has appeared to gas in some of his fights.

Brock Lesnar

Lesnar was a 2000 NCAA Division I champion in wrestling. He later moved on to compete in the WWE, then left the company to try his hand at professional football. He was offered a spot in NFL Europe, but he declined and moved into the world of MMA.

Standing 6’2” and weighing 265 pounds, Lesnar’s first (and only) MMA match came on June 2nd, 2007 against Min Soo Kim, although Choi Hong-man was originally scheduled to be his opponent. Lesnar mounted his opponent and forced a submission due to strikes in under two minutes.

While it was an impressive win, Lesnar only has one MMA fight under his belt compared to 13 by Mir. Plus, there’s a good chance that this one will go to the ground considering the background of both participants, and that’s where Mir is especially dangerous.

But whatever the outcome, give Lesnar credit for coming in and fighting a legitimate opponent and not just some punching bag.

Now let‘s take a look at the odds being offered by Bodog.

UFC 81 - FULL CARD AND BODOG ODDS

(Light Heavyweight) David Heath -270 vs. Tim Boetsch +210

(Welterweights) Keita Nakamura -265 vs. Rob Emerson +205

(Middleweights) Terry Martin -220 vs. Marvin Eastman +180

(Welterweights) Chris Lytle -600 vs. Kyle Bradley +400

(Middleweights) Ricardo Almeida -130 vs. Alan Belcher EVEN

(Lightweights) Tyson Griffin -450 vs. Gleison Tibau +300

(Middleweights) Nate Marquardt -225 vs. Jeremy Horn +185

(Heavyweights) Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira -180 vs. Tim Sylvia +150

(Heavyweights) Brock Lesnar -140 vs. Frank Mir +110

For more MMA action, check out the following:

UFC Fight Night 12 - Full Results

UFC 80 - Full Results

UFC 81 - Full Card and Bodog Odds