UFC 101 Betting Odds & Predictions

Seemingly disinterested during his last two wins, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva goes outside of his weight class for a challenge when he takes on Forrest Griffin at UFC 101: Declaration on Saturday night. While Silva-Griffin is worthy of top billing in its own right, UFC betting enthusiasts have a double main event on their hands with B.J Penn putting up his lightweight title against Kenny Florian at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

This is an intriguing fight for Silva (24-4-0), who is losing his grip on the title of best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Lackluster performances against both Thales Leites and Patrick Cote have bettors wondering if Silva is bored, complacent, or a combination of both. Listed as a –350 favorite to win the bout outright, Silva could make a huge statement and silence his critics by dropping Griffin (16-5-0) in a light heavyweight fight on Saturday.

Griffin (+250) has to use his natural size and strength advantage to have any chance against Silva, who made easy work of James Irwin last year in his only other bout at 205 pounds. Silva has never had a fighter like Griffin lean on him for any length of time, so his ability to maintain his wind against a bigger fighter is the key to victory for “The Spider”. Expect Griffin to take the fight to the mat, because an aggressive striking approach won’t be effective against Silva’s elite counterpunching skills.

In the other main event, Penn (13-5-1) is –230 chalk to defend his crown against Florian (11-3-0) in a battle between champion and No. 1 contender. Florian is priced as a +180 underdog, and there’s value in him at that number considering he hasn’t lost since 2006. His last defeat came at the hands of Sean Sherk at UFC 64, and Florian has improved tremendously since then.

Penn gets through many of his bouts on talent alone, and there’s no doubt he has the advantage in that department against Florian. The champion is also the better striker and the stronger fighter, so Florian is banking on getting the fight to the later rounds in the hope he can wear Penn down. The longer it goes, the better it is for Florian, one of the better-conditioned athletes in all of UFC.

Also on the top of the card is a battle between middleweights Kendall Grove (+135) and Ricardo Almeida (-165), while mixed martial arts veteran Josh Neer (-220) and Kurt Pellegrino (+175) meet in the lightweight division. Before the two main attractions, undefeated welterweight Amir Sadollah (-130) enters the Octagon against the equally unbeaten Johny Hendricks (+100).