Instead of what was supposed to be a blockbuster Super Bowl pay-per-view card featuring a heavyweight title rematch between current champion Fabricio Werdum and former champ Cain Velasquez, MMA bettors will have to settle for UFC Fight Night 82 this Saturday in Las Vegas instead.
The event will be headlined by a five-round welterweight bout between former title holder Johny Hendricks (17-3) and hot prospect Stephen Thompson (11-1), with the former a -230 favorite (bet $230 to win $100) over the latter at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.
Hendricks, the second-ranked contender at 170 pounds, has not fought in nearly 10 months, as he is coming off a unanimous-decision victory against Matt Brown at UFC 185 in March 2015. He was originally scheduled to take on No. 3 Tyron Woodley at UFC 192 last October but did not make weight, so that fight was cancelled.
Ironically, Thompson’s lone loss came to Brown via UD at UFC 145 almost four years ago. Since then, he has won five bouts in a row, including a pair of knockouts of Robert Whittaker and Jake Ellenberger that earned Performance of the Night bonuses.
Hendricks will be the toughest foe yet for the eighth-ranked Thompson, who is a +180 underdog (bet $100 to win $180) and hopes to move into title contention with a victory.
The new co-main event is a heavyweight battle between Roy Nelson (20-12) and Jared Rosholt (14-2), who are both looking to move into the Top 10 with a win.
Nelson is a solid -165 favorite, despite losing three straight fights and five of his past six. Rosholt is a +135 underdog and has won his last three, including a UD victory versus Stefan Struve as a dog at UFC 193 last November. He was a moderate favorite in his previous two wins.
Bettors who would like action tying the UFC and Super Bowl 50 together may also be interested in a prop at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. You can wager on whether the number of rounds in the Hendricks-Thompson bout (-1/2) will be greater than the number of combined field goals between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers.
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