Derrick Lewis will be looking to climb the rankings in the UFC heavyweight division with a sixth straight victory on Sunday when he takes on Travis Browne at UFC Fight Night 105 in a main event matchup pegged as a pick‘em at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Black Beast returns to the octagon following his recent fourth-round TKO win over Shamil Abdurakhimov as a -240 favourite at UFC Fight Night 102, and takes narrow -115 odds into Sunday night’s bout at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
Lewis now sports a 17-4 professional MMA record with one no-contest and has climbed three spots to No. 8 on the UFC heavyweight rankings since his victory over Abdurakhimov, which marked his seventh win inside the distance in 10 career UFC bouts.
Four of those wins came in the first round, including 2016 victories over Damian Grabowski at UFC Fight Night 82 in a clash also listed as a pick’em at the sportsbooks, and over Gabriel Gonzaga as -155 chalk at UFC Fight Night 86 where he also earned Performance of the Night honours.
Ranked as the No. 9 challenger among UFC heavyweights, Browne has come up short in four of his past six fights, but takes on Lewis while also at -115 odds.
The 34-year-old Hawaiian dropped a disappointing unanimous decision to Fabricio Werdum as a +200 underdog in his last outing at UFC 203, and has suffered a pair of recent opening-round defeats, falling to Cain Velasquez as a +215 underdog at UFC 200 after getting knocked out by Andrei Arlovski as a massive -500 favourite at UFC 187.
In other UFC Fight Night 105 action, former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks will try to end his current three-fight losing streak when he battles Hector Lombard as a +120 underdog on the UFC betting lines.
Hendricks missed weight in his past two fights, both as a welterweight, and makes his debut as a middleweight against Lombard, who sits as a -150 favourite.
Lombard is winless in his past three octagon appearances, including a third-round TKO loss to welterweight Neil Magny as a narrow -110 underdog at UFC Fight Night 85. That was followed by a second-round KO loss to Dan Henderson as -325 chalk in his return to middleweight at UFC 199.
Sara McMann is a -500 favourite to claim a third straight win as she takes on fellow women’s bantamweight Gina Mazany, who trails at a distant +350, while Cezar Ferreira is perched as -130 chalk in his middleweight clash with Mississauga’s Elias Theodorou, who is at +100.
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