Las Vegas Dice

The UFC 143 fight card will not be all about the Welterweight division as all the hype has made it seem; there will also be a relevant Heavyweight matchup between Fabricio Werdum and Roy Nelson. Both fighters need a win to remain a factor within the division, which should translate to a fight where both men will be looking to finish in impressive fashion.

Get your UFC odds for all of this weekend’s UFC 143 card right now at Bovada.

Werdum (-150) will make his return to the UFC following a semi-impressive time with Strikeforce. Despite great wins against Antonio Silva and Fedor Emelianenko, Werdum didn’t look good against the current UFC No.1 contender Alistair Overeem. Now he gets a chance as the odds-on favorite to redeem himself with the UFC brass, but that’s only if he can put together an impressive win against Nelson.

Nelson (+120) may be popular with the fans but he will need a win over Werdum to remain in the contender picture in the UFC Heavyweight division. Nelson is a complete fighter but he’s not been able to get a win over a ranked contender. A win against Werdum gets him right back in the mix and likely another fight against a high-ranked contender.

This fight is shaping up to be a basic ground vs. stand-up battle. Nelson will want to keep the fight standing where his power will give him an advantage while Werdum will want to put his elite jiu-jitsu skills to work on the ground for a submission victory. The question comes down to whether Nelson can stuff the Werdum takedown attempts.

Conditioning could play into the results of this fight as Nelson has gassed-out in his last couple of matchups. If this one goes deep Werdum could have an advantage in the late stages if Nelson’s cardio is not there.

Find MMA odds for this weekend’s bouts today at Bovada.

Be there for every victory.

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