Laying Chalk And Taking Dogs: A Gambler’s Look At UFC 113: Machida vs. Shogun II

This is by no means an encouragement for you to go out and start blowing your hard earned paycheck by gambling on fights (we would never do that! It’s illegal!), it is simply a fun look at one of the more interesting aspects of being a fight fan.

This has been a relatively stable line since it was introduced. You can get on the champ (Machida) at around -185 to -200 on most of the major sites while Rua is in the +150 to +160 range. Historically Machida’s fight odds have been very off come fight night but it seems like the books and the public have figured out his value. Some of the classic “off” lines were Machida actually being an underdog on some sites against Sokoudjou, Coming in at -170 against Tito Ortiz and coming in at -180 against Rashad Evans. Shogun comes in as the underdog for the third straight fight as he was +160 coming in to the Chuck Liddell fight and +405 in the first Machida bout.