UFC Fight Night: Lauzon vs. Stephens Odds & Predictions

Written February 6, 2009 by Jason Lowry

UFC Fight Night

This Saturday the UFC is back in action after the huge rematch between BJ Penn and George St. Pierre last week, where St-Pierre won in very convincing fashion to retain his UFC Welterweight title. This week the UFC is headed to the Sun Dome in Florida for Fight Night: Lauzon vs. Stephens. This is a special event for UFC fans, as the event is set to be televised on SPIKE, instead of the normal pay-per-view where fans have to shell out fifty dollars to watch an event. There are a number of fights scheduled to take place, but the big one, as you might of guessed, is Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon vs. Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens, as these two are set to do battle to see who moves one step closer to getting a title shot in the lightweight division. There is also a strong showing from The Ultimate Fighter series, including season 6 winner Mac Danzig taking on Josh “The Dentist” Neer. To help you get going on the upcoming fights this weekend, we are going to preview the 3 big fights, and give you our predictions on a few other fights as well, with odds provided by BetUS.com.

Joe Lauzon (-170) Vs. Jeremy Stephens (+140)

Lauzon comes in at 16-4 overall with 4-1 record in the UFC. Lauzon bounced back well after his disappointing TKO loss to Kenny Florian back at the beginning of last year, with a TKO win of his own against Kyle Bradley. Stephens has a very similar overall record at 16-3, but has had a little tougher time in the UFC going just 3-2. Stephens also bounced back from a loss in his last fight, as he had a very impressive TKO win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 91. Lauzon might have won his last fight with a knock out, but this guy is at his best on the ground using his submission skills, and that is likely where he will try to take this fight, as Stephens is a very hard hitter, and not a very easy guy to knock out. I look for Lauzon to prove he is the better fighter in this one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if fans get a full 3 rounds of action in this one.

Denis Stojnic (+400) Vs. Cain Velasquez (-550)

This will be the UFC debut for Stojnic, who has produced a 12-1 MMA record while fighting in Holland and Eastern Europe. On the other side you have Velasquez fighting just his fifth career fight, and has a perfect 4-0 overall record, including two straight wins to start off his UFC career. Impressively enough Velasquez has finished both his fights in the first round with TKO’s, including most recently against Jake O’Brien back in July of last year. Velasquez is a very well-rounded fighter that loves to strike with his knees and take his opponent down and ground and pound. Stojnic is a big underdog in this one, as the competition just isn’t the same outside of the UFC, but this guy is also a very well-rounded fighter, and has some explosiveness to his game. We look for a good showing from Stojnic, but when its all said and done, Velasquez will be the guy getting his hand raised.

Mac Danzig (-140) Vs. Josh Neer (+110)

In a battle of two very good lightweights you get Ultimate Fighter season six winner Mac Danzig and his 19-5-1 career record taking on the young and tough Josh Neer who has already put together a solid career at 24-7-1 at just the age of 25. Both these fighters are coming in off losses, as Danzig lost via unanimous decision to Clay Guida, while Neer lost for the second time in his last 3 fights to Nick Diaz. This fights sets up to be a real fan pleaser, as both these fighters are pretty well known for going the distance. We think the fight only goes two rounds, with Neer pulling off the minor upset with some form of submission.

Predictions for other Fights:

Rob Emerson (+190) Vs. Kurt Pellegrino (-240)

Jake Rosholt (+145) Vs. Dan Miller (-185)

Steve Bruno (+105) Vs. Matt Riddle (-135)

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