Michael Bisping will be looking to avenge a 2014 loss to Luke Rockhold when he battles the UFC Middleweight champion on Saturday in the main event at UFC 199 as a heavy +525 betting underdog at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The 37-year-old UFC veteran was submitted by Rockhold in the second round at UFC Fight Night 55, coming up short as a +300 underdog, but has emerged victorious in his last three ahead of Saturday’s Bisping vs. Rockhold matchup at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Owner of a 28-7 professional MMA record, Bisping has gone the distance with regularity. Bisping won by decision in each of his last three fights, signalling a significant change of fortune after losing four of his previous seven, but has had limited time to prepare for Rockhold after accepting the fight on less than three weeks notice.
Rockhold defends his title for the first time as a massive -850 favourite on Saturday, aiming to extend his current winning streak to six, but has spent comparatively less time in the Octagon, going beyond the second round just once in his past six outings.
While he needed the better part of four rounds to end Chris Weidman’s night at UFC 194, handing “The All-American” a TKO on punches to win the UFC Middleweight title as a narrow +115 underdog, Rockhold has earned 10 of his 15 career wins in under five minutes.
Dominick Cruz will also face an old foe on Saturday, when he puts his UFC Bantamweight title on the line against Urijah Faber as big -600 chalk on the UFC 199 betting lines.
Cruz has looked fully recovered from a devastating knee injury that kept him out of the Octagon for almost three years, knocking out Takeya Mizugaki in just 61 seconds in a triumphant return at UFC 178 before reclaiming the Bantamweight crown with a split decision win over TJ Dillashaw at UFC Fight Night 81 as a +115 underdog.
Faber is pegged as a distant +400 underdog in his third career clash with Cruz. The two first met in a WEC Featherweight Championship bout in 2007, which Faber claimed with a first-round submission victory, before Cruz evened the score with a unanimous decision win at UFC 132.
In other UFC 199 odds action, Max Holloway is perched at -325 against Ricardo Lamas, a +175 underdog in their UFC Featherweight matchup. Hector Lombard is -400 chalk in a Middleweight clash with veteran Dan Henderson, while Dustin Poirier is a -225 favourite against Bobby Green, who sits at +175.
