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UFC 77 scheduled for Saturday, October 20, 2007 at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Anderson Silva is a -205 favorite against Franklin (+170), which seems about right. I don't see anything going differently although I do like Franklin and if he wins so they will need to have a rubber match. But confidence in Silva is so high right now that this is an appetizing bet. Silva has dominated the UFC since arriving in June of 2006, beating Chris Leben handily at Ultimate Fight Night 5 before getting his shot at Franklin at UFC 64, a fight Silva won by TKO in the first round. Silva and Lyoto Machida are the only two people to put a blemish on Franklin's record. Silva has since went on to beat Travis Lutter at UFC 67 and Nate Marquardt at UFC 73 with neither contest going the distance. Silva's record currently stands at 19-4.
This fight will be in Franklin's hometown, so expect him to be ready for it. He had to have surgery on a nasal fracture he received due to 20 unanswered kicks by Silva in their last fight, and you can bet that's extra motivation to reclaim his title. Franklin has since won two matches, the first at UFC 68 against Jason "The Athlete" Macdonald by TKO and the other at UFC 72 against top ranked contender Yushin Okami. The fight against Okami was only the second Franklin fight that has went the distance, but he won by decision.
Evans and Ortiz are relatively even money again. Pick 'em. I'll be picking Ortiz because I think he'll be better prepared this time and he wont hold the fence. Back at UFC 73 these two fought to an unanimous draw because Ortiz had been warned about grabbing the fence, yet in the second round did it again to prevent Evans from taking him down to the mat. The one point penalty led to a draw, even though Ortiz should have won two rounds and the
fight in all three judges's minds. Don't think that means Ortiz is going to have his way this time. Evans is still a young and inexperienced fighter who will have learned from his first match and should be better this time around. Of course Ortiz still thinks he deserves the limelight and isn't going to get much more of it if he loses to an unproven fighter like Evans. It will be
interesting to see how this one plays out.
Josh Burkman (8-4) and Forrest Petz (13-4) will meet in a welterweight bout at UFC 77 also.
The 170-pound clash finalizes the UFC 77 fight card from the U.S. Bank Arena.
Burkman is coming off of a unanimous decision loss to Karo Parisyan at UFC 74 this past May. The former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) — who also dates UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste — possesses a decent record inside the Octagon (4-2) since his debut in 2005.
Petz is from nearby Cleveland, Ohio, and will look to put together back-to-back UFC wins for the first time in his career. “The Meat Cleaver” recently outpointed the game Luigi Fioravanti on all three judges scorecards at UFC Fight Night 10 back in June.
Both Burkman and Petz share a common opponent, Sam Morgan, who Burkman crushed with a slam and Petz earned a unanimous decision.
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