It’s a stacked card for this August 17th UFC Fight Night 26, which is taking place at TD Garden in Boston tomorrow night. Chael Sonnen is back after losing title fights at both middleweight and light heavyweight, while Alistair Overeem is also returning to the octagon after his embarrassing loss at the hands of Big Foot Silva back in February. The majority of the main card features fighters near the top of the rankings of their respective weight classes and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of these guys get title shots sooner rather than later if they have a successful outing tomorrow night.
Chael Sonnen vs Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua
Sonnen has lost his last two fights, but as mentioned earlier, each was a title fight against the best in each respective weightclass. First he was defeated in his rematch with Anderson Silva, and then Jon Jones simply overpowered him en route to victory. It will be interesting to see how Sonnen fairs in his second fight at light heavyweight. He is fighting stronger guys so will his wrestling be as strong as it was at middleweight? Rua has had a habit of following a win with a loss over the past several years and luckily for him he is coming off a loss against Gustafsson. That said his recent wins were over subpar opponents in Brandon Vera and Forrest Griffin in the twilight of his career. Take Sonnen in this one to get back in the W column against a weaker opponent than he has become accustomed to.
Play: Sonnen -110 (5Dimes)
Alistair Overeem vs Travis Browne
Overeem ran out of gas against Big Foot Silva in his last fight, and this may once again be a problem for the big man. That was his first loss in 6 years and it shows that he is beatable. Travis Browne’s only loss in his MMA career has also come against Big Foot Silva, so it will be interesting to see which of these men follows up a recent loss against Big Foot with a win against another one of his opponents. Browne fought recently in April, but finished Gonzaga early with elbows. He has the reach that may trouble Overeem. As a fairly big underdog I like Browne in this fight.
Play: Browne +200 (5Dimes)
Yuri Alcantara vs Urijah Faber
Faber is still a force at bantamweight and I expect him to continue to show that tonight. He did lose the Bantamweight Championship fight to Dominick Cruz back in July of 2011 and then once again lost his chance at the interim belt against Barao in July of 2012, but he has won every fight he has every been in during his career that was not a championship fight. He’s coming off of two big wins over Menjivar and Jorgensen in February and April of 2013 and should have no trouble with Alcantara tomorrow night either. Expect him to find a submission.
Play: Faber -250 (5Dimes)
As you can see 5Dimes is our recommended bookie for each of the fights because they almost always have the best MMA odds available. For MMA sports betting 5Dimes is the place to bet if you want to win as much money as possible over the long run.
Alistair Overeem • Chael Sonnen • Shogun Rua • Travis Browne • Urijah Faber