UFC 153 was almost another wash that could have really hurt the fighting promotional company after UFC 151 was cancelled after Dan Henderson pulled out and Jon Jones refused to fight Chael Sonnen as a replacement. UFC 151 was still affecting fight cards at UFC 153 because Belfort was moved up to UFC 152 to fight Jon Jones for the Light Heavyweight Championship.
There were supposed to be co-main events for UFC 153 with Rampage Jackson expected to fight Glover Teixeira and Jose Aldo was expected to fight Erik Koch for the Featherweight Championship. Long story short, neither of these fights are happening. Teixeira will now be fighting Fabrio Maldonado, while neither Koch or Aldo was able to make it to the fight, with each coming down with injuries about a month ago. Dana White still needed a big name fight to headline UFC 153 and that is when Anderson Silva stepped up to fight Stephan Bonnar at light heavyweight even though has has fought at middleweight since fighting Forrest Griffin back in 2009.
Odds
Online sportsbook 5Dimes.eu has the following odds set for the Anderson Silva vs Stephan Bonnar fight at UFC 153:
Money Line
- Stephan Bonnar +700
- Anderson Silva -1100
Total Rounds
- Over 1.5 rounds -125
- Under 1.5 rounds -115
As you can see Anderson Silva is a massive favorite even though he is moving up a weight class. This is because Anderson is widely considered the best pound for pound fighter in the world. He has never lost a UFC fight and is currently on a 15 UFC fight winning streak. The fact that he is moving up a weightclass does make this a somewhat more interesting fight though than fighting someone with Bonnar’s skill set at middleweight.
Prediction
Anderson Silva is a huge favorite and rightfully so. He has destroyed every opponent that he has faced in his UFC career, except maybe his 5 round battle with Chael Sonnen where he was able to squeak out a late submission victory (although he defeated him much faster the second time around). Moving up a weight class may cause some concern, but Anderson cuts a ton of weight to get down to fight at middleweight so the size difference, although being significant, won’t be as much as some may think. He has fought at light heavyweight twice before in the UFC and won both times in the first round via knockout (James Irvin and Forrest Griffin). This shows that Silva has the power to compete in the higher weight class without any difficulty.
Bonnar has won his last three fights, but each of these were against fairly lesser known fighters in the light heavyweight division. These three wins may have helped earn him this fight, but in reality his personality and fan draw were what got him on this card when the UFC was in need of a headlining fight. In reality Bonnar simply won’t be able to keep up with Silva and we may see the old cocky Anderson come out which will be nice to see.
Anderson at -1100 is a lot to risk, but it is almost a sure thing. One thing about Bonnar though is that he doesn’t lose by knockout or submission very often so it will be interesting to see if Anderson turns his lights out. I like Silva just to win the fight because it is almost guaranteed, even if he doesn’t finish him off you can be sure he will be more active and do more damage.
Play: Anderson Silva -1100
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Anderson Silva betting • Stephan Bonnar betting • UFC 153